Sighted
by Cheeseball417
Summary: In place of CMH. Cammie and her class travel to the Blackthorne Institute, school of assassins. Too bad the mandatory guns, knifes and C-4 aren't the only threats to their lives. Can Cammie and her friends survive?
1. Chapter 1

**A.N.** This is in place of CMH. And Blackthorne is not a school for troubled boys. I just don't like it that way...

**Cammie P.O.V.**

"Competition." Mr. Solomon said from the back of the room, "It's one of the reasons we do what we do. By keeping our country ahead of other countries, we provide at least the allusion of security to civilians." The gorgeous man appeared out of the shadows of Sublevel One, which was strange since there were no shadows in the stainless steel room. So that meant one of two things: either the blonde hair, green eyed hunk knew of secret passageways, or he was so good he was able to hide in plain sight (plus, it was the last class of the day and we all just wanted to go collapse on our beds) "And today ladies, you will be competing." He walked down the isle created by the desks, "Follow me." We all stood, reaching for our bags, "Leave them."

We did as we were told, all eight off us jogging lightly to catch up with the brisk pace our teacher was keeping. He led us up to the main hall and out the front door where we saw the helicopter in place of the seldom-used field hockey fields, "Four groups of two." He spoke without slowing his pace, leading us to the helicopter.

Looks like our school day had been extended.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Gentleman!" The door to our room flew open. Jonas fell from his bed, Grant was up and in fighting stance. I, meanwhile, glanced at the clock. Twelve thirty two in the morning. Now, had I been up, that would be no big deal, but since I had been asleep for two hours, I was grumpy.

"The hell do you want?" I ground out at the figure in the doorway.

"Tut tut tut. Mr. Goode, when we get back looks like you owe laps." Crap. Agent Matthews, the CoveOps teacher.

He stepped back, addressing my classmates in other dorms along the hall, "Joeseph Naylor, Noah Ward, Tody Russell, Ronald Crippen, Owen Leach, Noel Chaplin, Grant Newman, Zachary Goode. Twenty minutes, in uniform grand hall. Every minute late is a lap owed."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Ladies, follow me." We left the helicopter and pilled into an actual school bus. Sure, it was a short bus, but it was still big and yellow with the flashing stop sign. "Take a seat beside your partners. Taped on the seats in front of you is an envelope with one hundred dollars cash. Use that money at our destination to blend in."

"You first." Bex insisted. I rolled my eyes at my oldest friend and slid onto the bench.

"I get the isle seat on the way back." I demanded.

We each opened out envelopes and slid out money into the pockets of our blazers.

"Sit tight ladies, we have about an hour." Solomon pulled out of the parking spot and onto a nearby free way.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Late gentlemen." Agent Matthews declared as eight yawning teenagers descended the stairs, "Five laps each, except for you Mr. Goode, you have ten."

I was too tired to care. He loaded us into an unmarked van and we sped off.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Comms units." He passed the items out, one to each girl. We all promptly fit them into our ears, "Your mission today is to identify eight operatives. When you see one you will describe them into your comms, but be careful, they will be doing the same. Make it clear that you are identifying them as a spy, understand?"

He opened the doors to the bus, we disembarked, splitting off into our partner ships. "Bex and I have west entrance." I spoke. The rest of my sisters called out entrances before setting off for them.

Bex and I ended up walking into Nordstrom's, a really expensive department store, at least for two teenaged girls. We made our way to the teen section where we purchased our new attire, "Thank you for shopping at Nordstroms!" The too-cheery cashier chirped out.

We tucked our way into one of the public bathrooms in the mall. I went into the stall with my bag and quickly changed.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Zach, I'm stealing the belt." Grant declared stealing the belt from our shared disguise bag. It was part of the disguise, make two entirely new outfits with two private school uniforms and a bag of street close.

"Fine, but I get the jeans." I slid my khakis off and replaced them with the dark washed jeans. I unbuttoned my blue-stripped dress shirt, leaving my white undershirt showing. Grant kept on his khakis, sliding on the dark polo, which seemed a size too small.

"Who gets the shoes?" We looked at each other. We were the same size. This was an issue.

"Take 'em." I conceded. He took the converse and I stayed in the black dress shoes.

"You have until the mall closes to find eight highly trained operatives. Good luck men." Matthews smirked, "Make it clear that you are identifying them as a spy, understand?"

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"So what shall we do now that we have no money in the middle of a Connecticut mall?" Bex asked.

"Connecticut?" How would she know that?

"The receipt." She walked over to a table in the middle of the food court, "Sit. I'll go get us coffee."

"But we don't have any..."

"Leave that to me, Cammie dear." She walked over to the coffee stand. She placed her order. When the boy behind the counter handed her her order she began to rummage in the bag she had bought. Only the two of us new it was empty, but it was part of our cover. The boy looked her up and down, taking in the blue shirt with a purple floral pattern tucked into a belted blue pencil skirt falling at mid calf, showing of her amazing legs which were only accented by the navy blue booties.

She wrote something on a napkin before returning to me, coffee in hand, "Caramel Frappuccino for you," she handed me the drink in question, "and a Mocha Coconut Frappuccino for me." She sat across from me.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"We are at a mall, with no money, what do we do?" Grant asked.

"We sit and enjoy the view." I smirked, sitting on a bench, glancing about the little coffee area appreciating the short skirts and low cut shirts. "Ok, one to ten, third table from the right."

"Floral dress, Brown boots?" He asked, I nodded, "Seven, maybe eight."

"Come on, she's at least an eight. What about her friend?"

"Ten." He was right, but it was the first girl I couldn't take my eyes off of.

"Gelled black hair. Brown eyes. In the Forever 21." I heard Noel through the comms, "And her friend, black hair blue eyes." Owen added.

"Very nice Mr. Chaplin, Mr. Leach." Agent Matthews lauded from his perch just inside my peripheral view.

I glanced at the girls again, but they were still there, smiling and laughing. The darker one looked directly at us. She waved while her friend giggled and blushed. "I think we've just been invited over." Grant laughed. We stood to join the girls.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Bex, no." I scolded, keeping a smile on my face, "No, no, no."

"Come on, Cam. We are at a mall. They're hot."

"Hello there ladies." The two boys sat down in the two vacant chairs. "My name's Grant. And you two are?"

"Rebecca, but I go by Bex." She smiled at Grant.

"And you are?" I asked the other boy.

"I could ask you the same." He smirked at me.

I'll admit, Bex was right; he was hot. Slightly shorter than Josh, my ex, but he was more built, more athletic. Dark brown, maybe black hair. But it was the eyes that made it impossible for me to come up with a clever retort. Deep emerald with a dancing light. "But I asked first."

"I'm Zach. Happy?" He cocked an eyebrow leaning forward onto the table.

"Cammie, and yes, I am." I sipped on my drink.

"Outside Forever 21. Two dark hair, one dark eyes the other blue." Mick's voice came over the comms.

"Very nice Ms. Morrison, Ms. Alvarez." I noticed Zach and Grant wince a bit. Very slight, but I knew Bex saw it.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

The game went on. Grant and I stayed with the girls, chatting and surveying at the same time. We listened as four more enemies were found and six more of our guys were comprimised. That left Grant and I and some guys, after all, girls were the only ones that had been found and the girls sulking out of shops didn't exactly look capable of compromising spies-in-training.

"Come on, just one sip." I tried to snatch Cammie's drink from her.

"Go get your own." She laughed.

"I just want a sip. I'll kiss you for it." Most girls would accept that offer, wouldn't they?

"Don't make me do this Zach."

"Do what?" I leaned in closer, smirking at her, "Kiss me?"

She made eye contact with Bex. The two of them smiled wickedly at each other. They spoke at the same time.

Bex: "Bonde hair, blue eyes."

Cammie: "Dark hair, green eyes."

The two of them spoke in unison, "Beside me."

I swear, I must have looked like a fish out of water as my CoveOps teacher's voice came over the comms, "Mr. Goode, Mr. Newman. You have been compromised."

"How'd you know?" I asked Cammie.

She laughed before her and Bex got up and walked off, leaving Grant and I defeated at the table.


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N.** Not gonna lie, couple iffy words in here.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"That was pitiful, boys." Agent Matthews scolded as we climbed out of the van, "Newman, Goode. They were right in front of you!" He cried, giving us both thumps on the back of our heads, "Get to bed. Breakfast starts in two hours. Don't be late."

We all climbed the stairs silently. We all went to our rooms. I closed the door quietly, hoping not to wake Jonas, "WHAT HAPPENED?" He flew up in his bed, "Where did you go?"

"Not now." I threw my jacket on the floor. The dress pants and jeans followed, as did the shoes. I collapsed into bed. I was just about to fall asleep when the door flew open for the second time that night. "Matthews, I'm not getting up again."

"Cool your balls, Zach." It's us.

I rolled over, groaning as the other seven boys that made up our sophomore class piled into the room.

I will explain my school once and only once. I go to the Blackthorne Institute for Boys. Here we learn the basics, Algebra, Biology, Gunsmanship, Ancient Greek, Covert Operations. Same old, same old. We were a school for assassins/spies, but only recently was the 'spy' part tacked on. Some of us started here as young as three. Those were usually the boys with both parents in service, but there were few of them. I was one. We moved up, having rather normal childhoods in a building separate from the middle school and the high school, but as soon as we hit age eleven, grade six, they begin teaching us the basics of guns. When we hit seventh grade, we are given guns, which we are expected to carry with us at all times, and move on to knives, which we need to have at all times in eighth grade. Each year it's something new, something you can't easily, or safely in most cases, carry around all day every day. Drugs, Fire and Water, Strangulation (which we were currently specializing in) and we finish off our junior year with explosives. Then our senior year, we learn torture: how to execute and how to survive.

"What happened?" Michael Daniels, the only guy beside Jonas on the Research and Development track, yelled. His red hair all over the place and his green eyes magnified by the glasses that rested crooked on his nose.

The visitors all collapsed onto the futons we had in the place most dorms had a fourth bed, "We got our asses whopped by a bunch of girls." Joey Naylor grumbled, running his hand through his blonde hair. His green eyes groggy with sleep. Lucky.

"Wait girls?" The look on Jonas's face led us all to believe he had never seen girls before.

"Matthews took us to a mall in Connecticut and told us to find a bunch of operatives. They were a bunch of girls. They won." Toby Russell scratched his bare abs, his dark eyes stormy. The black haired boy wasn't known for his self-control.

"At least they were hot." Noah Ward, the class clown, chuckled.

"Amen to that." Grant called from his bed, "You should've seen this one girl, Bex. She was smokin'. A regular British bombshell."

"Her friend wasn't too bad either." Toby sneered. For some reason, I felt an overwhelming need for my fist to collide with his face. Even more overwhelming than usual, which really says something.

"Come on, Toby, at least pretend to have some tact." Ron Crippen scolded, his grey eyes stormy.

"Guys, it's over. We won't see them for some time, if ever." I finally spoke, looking at my brothers, "Now go away. I would like to get a few more hours of sleep if that's not too much to ask."

They left. Finally. I turned over, laying on my stomach, pulling the pillow under my head, just about to fall asleep when my alarm began to ring, "FUCK!"

"Zach!" Jonas scolded.

"Shut up." We all climbed from our beds, Jonas a bit easier than the rest of us. I got dressed in a pair of blue shorts, a white tank top and a sweatshirt. I pulled on my sneakers, trying to give myself a pep talk. Ten laps was bad enough, each being two and a half miles; doubling that was unpleasant, but not impossible.

I waited for Jonas and Grant to get ready before heading down to the track, "Very nice Gentlemen, on time for once. Get started."

We took off, starting our laps. Grant sprinted his first. Jonas paced himself, as did I, but I was much faster. After finishing the first lap I was able to see the rest of my brothers, just beginning their morning exercise. After my third lap, I saw another group standing in shorts and sweatshirts. These shorts, however, were much shorter, the sweatshirts much tighter, the bodies they concealed smaller. The group was made up of ten people, standing in a semi-circle facing Joe Solomon. The CoveOps teacher at the Gallagher Academy. They were Gallagher Girls. Life made sense again, but I still didn't like it.

I did another lap, mulling over this new information, the information I should have known, "Hey there Blackthorne Boy." A cheery voice said. A girl's voice said.

"Don't be so smug Gallagher Girl." I frowned, but didn't glance at the girl now currently keeping pace with me, "What happened to all your friends?"

"They're with your boys." She was still keeping pace when we hit the one-mile marker, "We'll keep you boys safe in these big bad woods."

I grabbed her just before she hit the ground, her foot catching on a root, "Who's keeping who safe now?" I pulled her up, setting her back on her feet, "We need to keep going or we'll need to do another set."

"Can't handle it?" She quipped from behind me, following my steps to avoid more roots.

"I can, but I don't want a dainty little girl like you running through the woods."

She had me pinned against a tree in a heartbeat, "Call me dainty again."

"Why isn't your friend the one with me? You and Grant seemed to hit it off." I slid out of her hold, moving on.

"I lost a bet." Bex grumbled.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

We stood on the edge of a seemingly deserted track, but I knew better, there was a reason for everything. That being said, Joe Solomon wouldn't have us wasting our time standing beside a deserted track at five in the morning, in shorts and sweatshirts, supposedly waiting, at the Blackthorne Institute for Boys.

"Pick 'em and stick with 'em." Joe Solomon called out just before the first boy rounded the ran by.

"I call!" Anna took off after the boy. I watch my classmates pair off. Macey went with some blonde haired beauty and Liz fell into an awkward trot beside a boy doing an equally awkward trot. Leaving Bex and I and our two boys from the coffee shop.

"Bex." I plead with my friend as Grant rounded the corner.

"No Cammie." She prepared to run.

"You are wearing my shorts." Teachers had packed our bags and teachers think about practicality over whether of not there is a stain on the butt.

"Fine." She un-prepared.

"Thank you." She just nodded as I ran off after Grant.

"Hey there Cammie." I could tell Grant was disappointed, but I didn't care. I just didn't want to be with the .

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"They were sitting behind us the entire time! And we never actually saw them!" Grant laughed.

We had finished our run and Grant had taken my to breakfast before I had a chance to shower. Boys just didn't understand that while a girl's breathing might be only slightly quickened after a 25 miles, but that didn't mean she wanted to be in public, especially with almost a hundred boys staring at me like I was an alien.

"Cameron Ann Morgan!" Oh no. Bex stormed in, pulling Zach buy the wrist. He just walked along behind her, smirking to his classmates. She grabbed the back of my tank top (I had ditched my sweatshirt somewhere) and pulled me to my feet, "Tag. You're it." She latched by hand onto Zach's wrist, removing her own and sitting in my seat, "Hey there." She said to Grant. Well, now I had no seat since the table was full.

The Blackthorne Dinning Hall was built almost identically to the Gallagher Academy's, as was the rest of the school. The furnishings, however, were much different. Instead of six long tables my school had, there were ten round tables, each seating eight, around two main tables, each could seat up to fifteen.

"You two. Move." Zach's authoritative voice pulled me from my observation. He was pointing to two, presumably younger, boys sitting at the table.

"Why should we?" The boys stood. They were half a foot shorter than Zach, who stood at around six foot two, but they looked like they were on steroids. I felt Zach move his hand slightly, pulling his wrist from my grasp and latching onto my own wrist. He pulled me behind him and to the left. Once again, it was a slight movement, but effectively positioning himself between the boys and me.

"Mitch, do we really need to do this? Here?" He rolled his eyes at one of the boys.

'Mitch' threw the first punch. Zach backed up, his back grazing my chest. Mitch went flying into another table, of seniors. Once Mitch regained his standing, his eyes were full of fear, as were his partners. The seniors were standing, encircling the two. Zach grabbed my wrist again and pushed me towards the newly vacated seats, "Sit. Now. Don't look." He picked up Mitch's fork and began eating the remainder of the meal.

"Goode! The hell happened?" An buff man yelled having broken up the fight between the senior and Mitch.

"I have no idea Mr. Pierce." Zach turned, shooting a look at Mitch and his friend.

"Goode, do I look stupid?"

"Well..."

"Do you want more laps?" He had already ran fifty miles this morning according to Grant, most people couldn't handle that, I doubt he could handle more.

"Sure, but I didn't do anything." Zach shrugged, turning back to his borrowed food.

"Levi Turner." I glanced over my shoulder. Mr. Pierce was speaking to one of the seniors, "What happened here?"

Zach looked nonchalantly over his shoulder, making eye contact with whom I assumed to be Levi, "These two just attacked us." Levi lied seamlessly.

Mr. Pierce grumbled and stormed away.

"Come on, let's get some real food now." Zach stood, I followed him to a buffet table beside the main doors.


	3. Chapter 3

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"We have an hour until class starts." I spoke as Cammie and I cleared our plates in the small room off the dining hall, "Do you have a room yet? Your bags?" Gracious host. I could pull that off.

"The bags are in our van on the drive. Mr. Solomon says there are tags on them with room numbers." She didn't look at me, just led me outside to said van.

She started to climb into the van, but I stopper her, "Let me get it."

"I perfectly capa-"

"Come on, Gallagher Girl, let me help you out." I climbed into the van, ignoring her grumble or "I don't need your help."

There were ten suitcases scattered about the compartment. And sure enough there were tags with room numbers, but no actual names.

"Need some help?" Cam called from outside, a smug look on her face.

"Nah I'm good." How hard could this be?

I checked all the tabs. Dancer, Pringles, Legacy, Chatter, Trigger, Heiress, Bookworm, Dutchess, Chica, Chameleon, "The Chameleon." I whispered.

All the boys here had read the report on this one operative. The Chameleon, no one knew who they were or on what level they were. All we knew was they had managed to sneak out of a top-secret facility. She was a girl, a spy-in-training. That just made her story all the more interesting.

"How'd you know?"A voice came from behind me. Cammie. She was the Chameleon?

I played it cool and pointed to my chest, "Spy." I grabbed the case and hopped out of the van, "Now come on, room 320." I felt the smirk grow on my lips.

"What?" She asked warily, walking back towards the front entrance.

"That's the same floor as my room. " I smiled at her grimace, "Follow me. There is a quicker way."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"There is nothing here." I grumbled frustrated that he made me stare at this brick wall for a solid minute.

"Come on, Gallagher Girl, I thought you were supposed to be good at this." He reached around me, one arm on each side of my body. He pressed the pads of his fingers to the wall. The bricks rumbled and slowly slid into each other, leaving behind a door sized hole. I stepped forward, looking at the sides of the wall. Little brick nesting dolls, I smiled to myself. "You're going to need to stay close, it gets pretty dark in here."

He pushed me along, following directly behind me. I shivered a bit when I felt his fingers touch the small of my back, one landing on exposed skin. I hadn't noticed my shirt had ridden up a bit, until I felt his warm finger on my lower back.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He chuckled, but he didn't remove his hand, just kept guiding me through the darkness, "In three steps there are stairs." He was right. His hand remained on my back, leading me up the stairs, staying only a step behind me, "They end soon, two, maybe three steps." It was two.

His fingers edged toward one side of my back, I turned sideways on the small landing, allowing Zach to squeeze up beside me. We were front to front; me staring into his chest. He just stood there for a moment; one hand on my hip closest to the stairs, presumably so I wouldn't fall. The other hand rested a foot above my other shoulder, "Is this really necessary?" I asked as he leaned in, placing his weight on his hand against the wall.

"If you want to get out of here, then yes, it is." And just then the wall I had been leaning on slid away. I fell backwards. I closed my eyes and braced to make impact on the hard floor, only to have a pair of equally hard arms wrap around me, holding me up. I opened my eyes and saw that damned smirk, "You sure you don't need my help?"

"That arrogant little bastard!" I yelled as I paced the length of my new room.

"Cam? What happened?" The ever concerned Liz asked, halting her unpacking.

"He- he just- he-" I stammered, "He was cocky."

"Welcome to the world of teenaged boys." Macey snickered, organizing her products on top of her dresser.

"This isn't the world of teenaged boys! This is the world of Zach Goode!" I collapsed on my bed hitting my head on the suitcase Zach had insisted on carrying. My roommates laughed as I rubbed the forming bump, "I mean did you see how he just looked at those guys and they lied to that teacher for him! What makes him so special anyway?"

"He's an alpha male." Macey shrugged, "And no one ever said he was special, Cam."

"It was implied!" I rolled my eyes at her.

"Cam, shut up and unpack. Class starts in like half an hour."

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"So Goode?" Toby had invited himself into my room, so now he was sitting on the futon and I on my bed, both dressed in our school uniforms sans the jackets, passing a football back and forth, "That chick you were with, she yours?" My hold on the ball tightened.

"They're all mine." I'll be damned if this sleaze touches any of them. I threw the ball at him, with a bit more force than necessary.

"Come on, man, that's not fair." He quipped.

"Life isn't fair."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Do we know where we are going?" I asked, pulling my blazer on, glancing at myself in the mirror.

The Blackthorne Institute had issued us female versions of their uniforms. I guess they did this in addition to finding us rooms. Now, the male version consisted of khaki pants, a button down dress shirt, black dress shoes and a blue blazer. The female version was basically the same except we had skirts that showed a man had picked them out seeing as they fell to mid-thigh at best, and the blazer was a bit more form fitting. We really did look like your average private school girls.

"You'd think they'd send us guides!" Bex exclaimed dramatically before throwing open the door, revealing Zach, Grant and two more boys, "Oh wait they did!" She slipped past Zach, who stood in the front of the pack (go figure), and pulled Grant away.

"Hello there ladies. May we come in?" Zach asked, not waiting for a response. He took several steps into the room and looked directly at me, "You know, I really do love the uniforms."

Liz blushed, pulling her skirt lower. I glowered at him. But Macey was the one who responded, "You must be Zach."

"Heard about me?" His eyes were still on me.

"Just that your a... what were your words Cam?" She paused, turning to me with one well manicured finger on her chin as if pondering. I could see in her eyes that she was in full on bitchy-heiress mode, "Oh that's right, an arrogant and cocky pompous ass." Sure I never called him pompous ass, but that didn't mean I didn't think it, "You're with me."

He finally pulled his eyes from me and used them to rake over her body, "As flattered as I am that you would want to be with me, love, I have specific orders to guide a," he pulled a file from the inside of his jacket, "Miss Cameron Ann Morgan. I believe that was the name you yelled while trying to get rid of me." He looked pointedly at Bex, "If that isn't enough to convince you, Age sixteen, sophomore at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. Brown hair, blue eyes, stands, at last physical, which was last year, really should update this, five foot six. Weight..."

"I suggest you shut your mouth before I shut it for you." Macey all but growled.

Zach held his hands up in fake surrender, "Calm down, none that's actually there. It's just her schedule." He smirked, "But seriously, I was told to show Cam around."

"By who?" I stepped forward so I was level with Macey.

"Your mother." One of the boys behind Zach laughed, "No, seriously. Her mother picked guides for each girl."

"I thought Headmistress Mor-" The laughing boy started, realization dawning on him eventually, "Oh..."

"There you go Ronnie!" Zach clapped him on the back, "Macey McHenry, I'm assuming." He looked at Macey, "I promise you are in good hands, he's not as dumb as he seems." Macey shrugged her shoulders, still glaring daggers at Zach, "So without further ado, Ronald Crippen, Macey McHenry."

We all took Ron in. He was tall, almost the same height as Zach. He was bigger than Zach, but not by much- Zach had the whole lean, mean fighting machine thing going, but I would never tell him that. Anyway, back to Ron. Grey eyes and dark, dark brown hair, maybe black. He, like almost all boys at this school, on a whole looked like the kind of guy you didn't want to cross.

Macey and Ron shook hands before walking out of the room. Ron leading her down the hall, "So, since you are obviously Cammie, you must be Elizabeth Sutton. May I call you Liz."

"Just save it and introduce them." I was getting tired of his song and dance.

"Gosh, you girls are feisty." He snickered to himself, "Liz?" She nodded her approval, "Liz Sutton, meet Jonas Anderson."

Jonas was one of those exceptions to the no-crossing rule. He was skinny and tall. He had pale skin that made his black buzz cut stand out. His thick glasses framed brown eyes. Maybe I was stereotyping, but I felt him and Liz would get along well.

They left, "And then they were two." Zach said in a singsong voice. "So after your little introductions," I guess he saw the look of horror on my face, because he chuckled, but this laugh was different from the others, "That's right Gallagher Girl, introductions. Just a quick little, 'Hi I'm Cammie Morgan, I'm a kickass pavement artist,' I'm sure you can handle it."

"Now, Zachary Goode, was that a compliment?" I cocked my head at him. Sure, being a pavement artist was a huge compliment for a spy, but for a girl? Having a guy who was the quintessence of tall, dark and handsome tell you that you are amazing at not being noticed? That was a different story, a story that caused a pang in my stomach. But what did I care? Zach Goode was an ass, which meant he was strictly a coworker.

"I suppose it was." He actually smiled at me. Well, half smiled, but it wasn't that smirk, "Anyway, after your introductions, we have Russian, then Protection and Enforcement, and then..." He paused, starting to say something before stopping, "A special class that is optional for you girls, and then we have lunch."

"What class is optional?" I asked. Was it something about how to force a girl into ridiculously short skirts like the un-government-sanctioned uniform I was currently wearing?

"You're going to be late. Let's go. These yours?" He gestured to a pile of books. I nodded. He picked out the books I would need and slid them into my bag. I went to take it, but he pulled it back, "I got it. Don't worry." And then he led me out of the room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Dude, she really hates you." Grant whispered to me as Cammie stalked off into the other room.

"Not for long." I laughed.

"Ever try not being an ass?" He grumbled, sitting down in the auditorium along with the rest of our brotherhood, elementary school included.

"Gentleman!" Dr. Steve, a short, reddish man called to the room from the stage, "For a hundred years, the Blackthorne Institute for Boys has remained secluded, cut off from the rest of society by the mountains that surround us, but yesterday, our sophomore class was privileged enough to meet another breed of operatives, another gender. The Blackthorne Board of Directors and the Gallagher Board of Trustees have decided that, after a hundred years of being strangers, our students should meet."

That's when the door opened and in walked ten Gallagher Girls. I searched the back, looking for Cammie, but she wasn't there, an older woman, who bore a slight resemblance to Cammie, had replaced her but the woman's hair was longer, darker, her skin was paler, suggesting she spent more time inside than my Gallagher Girl.

"They only brought one senior? What is this?" Toby complained from somewhere down the sophomore row (We were seated by grade, the youngest in front, the oldest in back).

"Nah, she's not a student." I muttered, but only Grant heard me.

The girls walked down the isle beside me. I inclined my head so it was obvious I was looking right at the girls. Several made eye contact with me and turned away with a blush on their face, all except for Bex and Macey, they looked straight ahead.

"And now gentleman, I would like to introduce you to Ms. Rachel Morgan, headmistress of the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women."

The older woman ascended the stage's steps. She shook Dr. Steve's hand with a gracious smile before replacing him at the podium, "I would like to thank Dr. Steve along with the rest of the staff for being so accommodating. With me this semester I have ten girls, all in their Sophomore year. I will allow them to introduce themselves, starting with..." She looked down the line, "Bex? Where's Cammie?" Bex shrugged. Worry flashed on Ms. Morgan's face, but it was gone in a moment, "Well then, why don't you start."

"My name is Rebecca Baxter, but I prefer Bex," Was all she offered.

"Can you give them your codename, Bex?" Bex looked at Ms. Morgan with a sense of do-I-have-to, "I'm sure they will need to know it at some point."

"Dutchess." She said, looking anywhere but at the sophomore class.

"My name is Kim Lee." The tiny girl beside Bex spoke up. She had black, shoulder length hair that contrasted with her porcelain skin. She was cute, but in the baby sister kind of way, much due to her height, "My codename is dancer." Well, she did have the build of a dancer, but so did most of the girls standing on the stage.

"My name is Anna Fetterman." A very skinny girl spoke. She looked weak, she didn't look like a spy, she looked like a teenaged girl in dire need of an ice cream sundae, "My codename is Pringles." She could use some Pringles...

"I'm Courtney Bauer and my codename is Legacy which is really funny because neither of my parents are spies, they're-"

"That's enough Courtney." Ms. Morgan spared us the monologue. The girl began fiddling with her black-gelled hair.

"Tina Walters at your service." She winked, "Codename Chatter." She had dark eyes that darted around taking in all the boys. These girls must not get out much.

"Mick Morrison." She looked a lot like Bex, but more masculine, "Codename Trigger."

"Eva Alvarez," A short girl with long black hair piped up, Codename Chica.

"My name is Liz Sutton," The small southern belle smiled nervously. At first I hadn't seen it, but now, I could see why Jonas was talking non-stop about her. Liz glanced at Macey beside her. I saw Macey squeeze her friend's hand and offer her a warm smile.

"Macey McHenry. Codename Heiress." She flipped a piece of her shiny black hair back behind her shoulder, "Yes, the Macey McHenry. Calm down." She waved away all the whispers among my classmates. I rolled my eyes. They were like kindergarteners and the girls were the shiny new toys (funny expression since the kindergarteners, along with everyone in the lower school, were completely unfazed by the girls).

"Zach, where's Cammie?" Ms. Morgan questioned me.

"I walked her to the room and watched her enter." I shrugged, "I could probably find her though, if you want."

"Think you can find her?" Macey laughed, crossing her arms over her chest, "If Cam doesn't want to be found she won't be found."

I looked around the room. I'll be damned if I let the little heiress get what she wants. I combed each row, taking an inventory of the boys, "Jacob. Look at the guy on your right."

"You little-" She flew up in her seat, turning to face me. Poor sixth graders, too young to know better.

"Cammie, dear, no need to be mean." I shook my head at her, "Get stage fright?" I stood, walking down the isle to her.

**Bex's P.O.V.**

"Why did you pair them up?" I questioned Headmistress Morgan, half expecting some nonsensical response justifying a trip to the mental hospital.

"I think they'll be good for each other." She smiled at Zach who was now extending his hand to Cammie, helping her over a few younger boys.

"Is this an assassination job or something?" That's the only way they'd help anyone.

"I'm sure they'll survive." She smiled at me.

"So!" Zach called attention to himself, and by extension Cammie, "This," He squeezed the arm he had around us, "Is Cammie Morgan. Her codename is The Chameleon." Murmurs, more murmurs than when Macey was revealed, filled the room, "That's right. The Chameleon. Move on." He glared at the boys.

"Macey?" I whispered to my friend, "Did he just-"

"He marked his territory."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Give me my bag!" I yelled at Zach, snatching the brown messenger bag from his shoulder. He was standing in the middle of the grand hall, right outside the auditorium, surrounded by his brotherhood.

"What's wrong Gallagher Girl?" He followed me as I stormed away, "We're even now. Zach 1 Gallagher Girl 1. Now we can move past this and become friends."

"Explain to me, Zach," I halted, turning on him. We were on the outskirts of the crowd, but I could tell all eyes were on us, "Why would I want us," I gestured between us, "to be friends?"

"You'd be surprised Gallagher Girl, I'm pretty good at being a friend, believe it or not." He laughed.

"Not!" I stormed away.

"You are not coming." He spoke, his voice low and demanding as we cut through the stream of boys, heading towards my room.

"Why not?" I demanded, "I can do anything you can."

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to now go." He opened the door for me, all but shoving me inside and slamming the door closed behind us.

"He ditch you too?" Bex asked.

She was sitting on the edge of her bed, glaring down at the floor. Bex didn't like being told she couldn't do something, after all, you don't get to be the first non-American Gallagher without a can-do attitude.

"I don't see what the big deal is, we get a free hour. What's wrong with that?" Macey flipped a page of her magazine.

"We have no idea what they are doing!" I exclaimed, collapsing on Bex's bed beside her.

"You know, we could do a little snooping..." Liz spoke, holding up her bugs.

"Lizzie, how did you get those? Mr. Solomon checked." Macey put her magazine down.

"He didn't check everywhere." She shrugged.

"I'm liking this side of you Lizzie." Bex laughed as Liz handed out comms.

"Bex and I will go in, Liz monitor from in here. Macey stand guard." I directed.

Macey nodded and helped us into an air vent that would hopefully lead to the boys' room. We wiggled through the surprisingly low-tech vents, no lasers or sensors or pressure plates, but I guess when the smallest residents of the building were five foot six and 150 pounds. I guess being girls in an all guys school does have its advantages, covert, that is.

"What room were they?" My voice echoed in the metal vent.

"330." Bex echoed back, "We are over 326 now." I looked down through the vent into the first boys room we came across, "Why are these rooms so _clean_?"

Room 328 was the same. They looked like barracks of highly trained soldiers, not the bedrooms of teenaged boys. "Bex, hand me the screwdriver." She did. I quickly undid the vent, catching the grate before it fell to the ground.

We slid to the ground, taking in the room. I walked to the middle and took in the surroundings. The only form of personalization was a set of futons in a cut out. Other than those two futons, the room was bland. The floor was a dark hard wood. The walls were cream colored, with no posters or personalization. The beds were a stark, pale blue, made in hospital corners. The desks were bare with identical notebooks, stacked on top of each other. There were no computer or laptops around, they must have them in their bags or something. We did the basics.

Bex checked the closets. All the closets were filled with uniforms. Black dress shoes were shined to perfection, three pairs sitting on the floor of each closet beside a pair of running sneakers and a pair of converse.

Meanwhile, I went through the drawers. It was easy enough to figure out whose was whose. The drawers had the most personalization, but each contained the same basics. It wasn't until I got to the bottom drawer of the third set that there was personalization other than a New York Yankees sweatshirt.

The picture was old and worn. There was a woman. She had dark red hair pulled back. She wore a sundress with a happy smile plastered on her face. The woman was hugging a young boy from behind, bent over so that her chin was on the little boys shoulder. The boy was maybe six or seven, smiling happily, holding on to the woman's arms against his chest. The young boy's dark hair falling into his eyes. The same eyes as the woman. The woman was his mother. The same green eyes as Zach. Zach was the little boy and the woman was Zach's mother.

I heard Macey knock on the door, "Macey? What are you doing here?"

"This is my room." She lied.

"Macey, your room is 320, not 330." Zach said. Crap.

I helped boost Bex into the vent.

"Macey, we need to get in our room. I forgot something." Macey quipped at them before leaving her post.

I dove under a bed just as the door opened.


	5. Chapter 5

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

_I dove under a bed just as the door opened._

"What do you think she was doing?" Grant asked.

"She just mixed up the door numbers. It's her first day, heiresses aren't too great with math. Just hurry up and get your damn gun." Gun? I saw a pair of dress shoes approaching. They paused just in front of my hiding spot. I held my breath until the feet eventually turned. The bed sagged as the boy sat on it, "Do me a favor." Zach's voice came from directly above me, "Tell Mr. Boone that one of the girls needed held. She said it was urgent."

"And so his little protégé will not be attending class today. Got it." And Grant left.

We lay in silence, Zach above the bed and me below. The silence lasted for two minutes and thirty-four seconds or, as normal people would say, until Zach spoke, "Disappointed?" Was he on the phone? "You could have just asked me Gallagher Girl."

I closed my eyes. He had caught me, "Asked you what Zach?"

"So you are still in here! I just saw one of my drawers open." He laughed to himself, "Come on out. You're gonna mess up your hair." I emerged from my hiding spot. There was Zach, lounging on the bed, legs crossed at the ankles and arms behind his head, "See, look at this." He reached his hand up and plucked a dust bunny from my hair, "All better. Take a load of Gallagher Girl." He moved over on the bed, leaving enough room for me to lie down, but not enough for there to be no contact.

"What was I supposed to ask you?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

"What all you girls want to know: Boxers or Briefs." He smirked up at me, "It's boxers for Grant and I, except for certain missions. I mean, when lasers are involved there are certain things you don't want swaying in the breeze." His smirk grew wider at the discomfort that must be showing on my face, "And well, Jonas, he usually opts for briefs."

"Well, now that those images are forever burned into my brain,"

"You're welcome,"

I ignored his quip, "Can I go now?"

"If you must. I'd prefer if you didn't. I'd love to spend some time, get to know."

"We can exchange notes later, Zach." A bunch of guys had stopped me in the hallway already asking about the Chameleon.

"I mean the girl behind the lizard." He rolled his eyes at me, "I'm sure the girls won't mind." He smiled.

"As much as I'd love to, I really need to unpack." I actually smiled at him, "Maybe later."

"It's a date." I saw him give me an I-Know-Something-You-Don't-Know before I all but ran out of the room.

"How was your run with Zach?" Macey asked from the bathroom, washing her face.

"Why didn't you guys stop me?" I slid my muddy sneakers off at the door before crossing the room to the bathroom.

"I did warn you." Bex laughed. "YES! Hit him right!"

"She's watching some James Bond movie." Macey sighed, "Just take a shower and get that mud off."

At dinner, Zach and I had made a bet. He bet I couldn't keep up with him on a run and that was why I went with Grant. I bet that I could. He decided that we were going to try it out right then and there. He hassled me the entire way up to our rooms before we went out side and ran a solid five miles in the pouring rain. And that is how I ended up washing off my second skin of mud and leafs at seven.

"At least you won!" Liz laughed, when I emerged from the bathroom.

"I guess." I slid on a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top, "I still have a ton of homework."

"Darn!" Bex yelled.

"James Bond lose a fight?"

"No! I haven't started anything!" She shoved her laptop off her lap.

Bex and I spent the next few hours doing our homework. Macey fell asleep and Liz just continued typing away on her laptop with headphones in her ears.

"How was your run?" Bex asked, looking up from her COW homework.

"Wet and muddy."

"How was your partner?" He ran without a shirt...

"Fast." She stopped asking questions once she realized she was getting nothing out of us.

It was midnight. We were almost finished with our homework when the gun went off. Macey bolted up in bed. Bex and I jumped to our feet. And Liz clutched at her bleeding shoulder, a gun's handle just poking out of the laptop bag on her lap.

"Liz!" Bex ran to her, as did Macey. I stood frozen in my stance, "What happened?"

"This, this isn't my bag!" She sobbed, "I must have switched mine with Jonas's."

Grant had a gun. Jonas had a gun. And now Liz was shot.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Someone get the door." Jonas groaned, rolling over in his bed.

I rubbed my eyes as I made my way to the door. I opened it, expecting to see some teacher complaining about something. But it wasn't some forty-something teacher, it was Cammie.

"Cammie wha-"

"Liz is shot!" Now that woke me up. I ran back into my room and grabbed the bag every student had for this very occasion.

"Let's go."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Hey Lizzie." Zach spoke as soon as we came through the door.

Liz was sobbing into Bex's shoulder. Bex was yelling at Macey, rummaging in the bathroom. But they all froze when they saw Zach slowly approaching Liz.

"Liz, I'm going to help you ok?" He kneeled on the edge of her bed. She nodded and he moved closer, "Can I see it?" She moved her hand away from her shoulder, which was soaked in blood, "I'm going to clean it. Hold Bex's hand."

I don't know how, but Zach managed to calm us all down. He cleaned Liz's wound of blood, speaking encouraging things to her, "Now, the bullet is in there, but it's shallow. I'm going to numb your shoulder then I'm going to get the bullet out." He pulled out a needle and slowly administered whatever was in it. He proceeded to take out a pair of tweezers and slowly, but effectively removed the bullet from her shoulder, "See, there's the little sucker." He showed her the bullet. He went on, wrapping her shoulder in sterile, white gauze. "When I was in seventh grade, right when we got our guns, Grant accidentally shot me. Want to see my battle wound?" He smiled at her. Lizzie nodded, a watery smile on her face.

He stood up and pulled his white tank top off. And pointed to a scar on his right pec. "See? Right there." He smiled down at her.

"Did it hurt?" She asked as he shrugged his top back on.

"It did, but it was mostly shock." He chuckled, "After that, the teachers gave us a crash course on how to treat a bullet wound. Guess it came in handy." While he was talking to her, I saw him slip the gun from her lap, switch the safety on and drop it into his bag, "Now, Liz, I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself, but I want you to go to the infirmary tomorrow morning. Just to do a basic check."

I walked him over to the door, "That's what the class is, isn't it?" I whispered.

He nodded, "We can talk about it in the morning. Her vitals are strong, if there is any change, come get me." And he left.

"Try and get some rest Lizzie." I know I won't. She nodded and lay down, trying to fall asleep.

"Well, he was almost pleasant." Macey spoke, climbing back into her bed.

"He just patched Lizzie up hospital style in like twenty minutes." Bex responded.

So far there were three Zach Goodes, the cocky alpha male, the cocky teenaged boy and the after hours doctor, and I have yet to find out which the was the smiling boy from the picture.


	6. Chapter 6

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

We were all gathered in the makeshift girls locker room, dressed and ready for our five lap, morning run.

"Lizzie! Oh, I'm so glad you're alright!" My mother exclaimed as Liz walked into the room, her arm in a sling, "This looks rather...docile."

"They said since Zach patched it up so well last night, it was almost like the shot didn't happen." She shrugged with her good arm, "The sling is just to promote tissue growth."

"He was in your room?" Headmistress mode activated.

"Just for twenty minutes while he patched her up." I intervened. No need for this to escalated to something it wasn't.

"Under those circumstance, I'll allow it. Don't let it happen again." She lectured.

"None of us intend to get shot again, Headmistress." Macey joked.

"Point noted." She paused, glancing around at the ten girls that made up the Gallagher delegation, "Now, I must be returning to Gallagher, but I am leaving you in capable hands." On cue Mr. Solomon entered. "I have to go now, bye kiddo." She pulled me into a hug, "Joe has a gift for you, wait for the girls to leave and he'll give it to you." She kissed the side of my head before leaving the room.

"Ok girls, make us proud. We will be timing." Joe instructed while the rest of my sisters filed out of the room, "Cammie. I was going through some old boxes," never pictured him as the spring-cleaning type, "And I found this." He handed me a small Blackthorne sweatshirt, "It was your dad's in sixth grade." I held it up and turned it around and saw MORGAN written across the back, "He was tiny, he didn't start growing until he hit high school."

"Thank you!" I pulled him into a hug, which he returned.

"Um, am I interrupting?" Zach's voice came from the entrance.

"No Zach." Mr. Solomon released me, "I'll hold on to this?" He took the sweatshirt when I nodded.

"So, how do you know Mr. Solomon?" Zach asked on our third lap, having remained silent until then.

"He's my teacher." I shrugged, keeping pace with him. We had already lapped Liz and Jonas. Twice.

"That wasn't the hug of a student and teacher. Unless..." I could see an arched eyebrow out of the corner of my eye.

"No! No Zach! God!" I swatted at his arm.

"I was just kidding." He chucked, taking the blow, "But how do you know him? Joe Solomon barely offers compliments, much less hugs."

He was right, "He's an old family friend." I pondered my words for a moment, "I think he went out with my aunt for a while, but that might have been a cover, still unsure about that."

"There are more Morgan women? Toby almost had a heart attack after seeing you and your mom, a third might finish him off."

"She's my mom's sister. Her last name is Cameron."

"Your first name is your mother's maiden name?"

"Thank you captain obvious." I rolled my eyed, "Out of concern for my saftey, do you have weapons of any kind on you."

He was silent for a moment, "Yes."

"What and where?" I couldn't spot any of them.

"A gun. Holster on right thigh." So that's what that was! "And a knife, strapped to my left thigh. Normally the gun is in my waist band, but it doesn't travel well that way."

"And why do you carry these?"

"We are required to." I shot him a look out of the corner of my eye, "You're spies, so are we, just another type." (**A.N.** Stealing my favorite Ally Carter line), "You're Gallagher Girls," his eyes hardened and his pace quickened, "We're the stepchild no one ever talks about."

"Zach, I-"

"It's fine Cammie, let's just finish this off." His pace quickened even more. The problem was, he had longer legs, it was getting to the point where one of his strides equals two of mine, "Cam you ok?"

He must have noticed me falling behind.

"Ya, you go on ahead, I'll catch up with you at breakfast." He nodded before taking off down the trail, leaving me alone in the woods.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"37.5 minutes." Mr. Solomon called out my time, "Very nice Zach." Second best in the school's history, thank you very much, "Where's Cammie?"

"She told me to go on ahead." Mr. Solomon looked at me for a moment before speaking.

"Go get some breakfast."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"60 minutes." Mr. Solomon called out my time, "Beat many of your classmates."

But not my personal best. By any standards. I had been so distracted after Zach ran off, trying to figure out why these boys had been forgotten, why they carried deadly weapons while doing morning laps. And something was bothering him, he was going fast, like lapped me several times fast. I couldn't help wondering what it could be, if I could do anything to help.

"Hey Cammie!" Bex took a break from arguing with Grant about some advanced fighting maneuvers and scooted over, opening up a small space for me.

"Here, she can have my seat." A fully dressed and showered Zach stood, taking his tray with them. I suddenly felt really self-conscious after all, I was un-showered in sweaty cloths and his hair was perfectly messed and dressed in his uniform.

"How are you dressed?" We had been halfway through the third lap when we split up, and sure he had passed me a few times, but I didn't think he would have that much time.

"Spy." He pointed to himself, "Grant, I'm heading to the library. I need to finish that report."

"What re-?" Grant started. His eyes darted to me right before they went back to Zach, "Oh, gotcha."

"What was that?" I demanded once Zach left.

"Nothing," He paused, "I'm going to go help him." And he was gone too. Followed soon after by Ron, Jonas and some other boys at the table, leaving just Bex and I. Eventually Macey joined us, causing a bunch of boys to flock to our table.

"Cammie!" Tina called from across the room. She ran over and took a seat beside me, "I have some sources that say they saw you meeting Zach in his room yesterday night."

"I went to get him to help Liz." I responded, hoping she'd let it go. I mean, there were boys _at the table!_

"So do you like him?" I must have looked at her like she had three had three heads because she went on, "Well, the two of you run together and you went to him first when there were other rooms closer, plus you could've tried the hospital wing." She paused, taking in a deep breath. She whispered the next line, which, since it's Tina, means it's huge, "And he looks at you in class."

This had Macey's attention, causing her to banish the boys, "Tina, what do you mean?"

"Every once in a while, he glances over at her, just for a moment, but..." Macey leaned back in her chair and her eyebrows were pulled up.

"We will continue this conversation later." Macey declared, "Cammie, Bex, we need to go get ready."

"Girls," Macey turned on us as soon as we closed the door to our room, "Who's ready for a mission?"


	7. Chapter 7

**A.N.**So, I meant to put this in the last update but I forgot. The reason Jonas had a gun in his computer bag is the boys are required to carry them ALWAYS. And since Jonas doesn't exactly strike me as the guy-concerned-with-guns, he throws him in his computer bag with his love (the computer) while Zach and Grant, the more macho guys of the group carry them on their persons directly.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

**Summary of Surveillance**

Operatives: Cameron Morgan, Rebecca Baxter and Macey McHenry

In response to accusations made against Zachary Goode (hereafter referred to as The Subject), The Operatives undertook a low-risk, routine reconnaissance mission. To execute said mission, The Operatives attended their classes, assuming covers of average teenaged spies-in-training attending classes in a top-secret facility unacknowledged by many government agencies.

In conclusion to this reconnaissance mission, Operative McHenry concluded that The Subject did glace at Operative Morgan an excessive amount through out the day. It was also concluded that not all these glances where that of a trained operative observing an accomplice, an asset, or even an enemy. Other than these glances, however, The Subject did not engage with any of the Operatives.

"Cammie! We didn't get to finish our conversation this morning!" Tina ambushed me. I had skipped dinner, hoping to get away from her inevitable questions.

I was sitting in the sophomore common room with my History of Espionage open on the coffee table beside me, a laptop in front of me, the word document blank except for my name.

"Tina, I have this paper to write-"

"Then I'll make it quick. What did Macey determine?" I filled her in on our findings.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Well, Mr. Boone will kill me if I don't get that report in tomorrow. She's already ticked it wasn't done for today." I stood from my seat at the table.

"Well it was due." Liz lectured. I just rolled my eyes.

I climbed the stairs, planning on working in the common room. While the common room was still pretty bland, it was a step up from our rooms. There was a TV and a pool table, a foosball table and usually people there as a distraction, a reason to avoid the paper. I made a quick stop at my room, grabbing my laptop and a few books.

"Then I'll make it quick. What did Macey determine?" Tina Walters, the only girl that Toby has ever not made an attempt on, spoke.

"You were right." Cammie sighed. Right about what?

"So onto the next question." I could hear the smile, (**A.N.** Another Ally Carter quote, sort of) "Do you like him? Because, you have dibs on Zach since Bex has no interest and the two of you were the first to talk to him. So do you like him?" The moment of truth.

"He's a decent guy and all, but I relinquish any and all claim to Zach. You can have him." Ouch.

"Oh I don't want him." Ouch again. I heard one of the girl stand. I slipped into the shadows caused by little cut outs along the hallway.

"Why, Tina?" Exasperation and curiosity evident in Cammie's voice.

"You don't know?" Tina sounded amazed, "My mom told me when she heard about our trip! His mom is a CIA traitor! She's on all their most wanted lists!" I froze. I knew it was true and I knew my brothers knew it was true, but now the girls knew it, at least as a rumor.

"Tina," Cammie spoke slowly and quietly, "He's not a saint, but you really shouldn't be spreading stuff like that."

"Cam, I'll admit, sometimes my sources are iffy at best, but this time, I swear by it." She walked to the entranceway I had just been about to use. From my hiding space, I could just make out her hair, "If you don't believe me, ask Zach." And she walked down the hall away from me into her room.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Hey there, Gallagher Girl." I startled. Tina had left a few moments ago (two minutes and twenty seven seconds ago) and I had sat in silence. Trying to figure out whether what Tina had said was true.

"Hey." I glanced up at Zach. His eyes were dark and his face was grim. Had he heard something?

"Mind if I join you?" A half-hearted smirk graced his face.

"I'm writing a paper." I smiled at him, "So if you'll let me work, go ahead." He sat down beside me, setting his laptop down beside me.

"What paper?" He looked at me concerned.

"The one for History of Espionage."

He fell back against the couch and cursed in Japanese, "I forgot about that."

"We can work on it together." Olive Branch in case he did hear.

"I have a paper that was due today that I have to finish." He muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"You didn't tell Liz that did you?"

"She already lectured me." He groaned, stretching his arms out on the back of the couch.

"Uh!" I groaned, throwing myself back against the couch as well, "She's going to go on a rampage tonight about responsibility and how people don't care about school." She gave us that lecture back in eighth grade when Bex forgot a COW assignment. None of us forgot an assignment again.

"So what are you writing your paper on?" He fished hoping for some direction.

"I'd tell you, but then I'd-"

"Have to kill me. Ya ya." I felt something brush my left shoulder. I hadn't really notice, but Zach's arm was more or less around me, his finger tips touching my shoulder. We were silent for three minutes, "Are you going to ask me about her?" He whispered.

I leaned my head back against the back of the couch, against his arm. I looked up at his blank face. I thought about it, Did I need to know if it's true? "No. I won't ask." He looked at me, puzzled.

"You'd be the first." He shook his head.

"If you want to talk about it though. I know what it's like to lose a parent." I whispered the last part; I didn't like to talk about it.

"I'll keep that in mind." A small smirk graced his lips, which were dangerously close to mine, "I'm going to kiss you now, Gallagher Girl. Hope your okay with that." And then he did.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

At first she sat there frozen, her lips still against me. I pulled back and looked her hard in the eyes. I didn't want to make her do anything, but I really wanted her to want to do this. I was just about to back off, to go back to her work when she leaned over and wrapped her arms around my neck. She pulled herself up, turning to face me, kneeling on the couch. I pulled my arms from the back of the couch and held her waist, pulling her closer.

"You know, Gallagher Girl," I spoke against her lips between kisses, "Liz is going to give you that lecture you hate so much if you don't get to work."

She sighed and leaned back against the circle my arms formed around her, "I guess you're right." We got to work on our papers. She kept the computer on her lap and leaned against me, my arm around her shoulder.

I have been at Blackthorne for almost fourteen years now. It was more secure than many government agencies, probably one of the safest places in the world. Yet ever since my mother had disappeared into the world of evil, I had felt less and less safe with each passing year until it got to the point I refused to trust anyone here, which could be a good thing in my like of work. Now, With Cammie in my arms, leaning against me, I could see the possibility of trusting again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"I finished the paper." I called to my friends, displaying the screen.

"Why'd it take so long, Cam?" Macey smiled devilishly at me.

"Well, it's quite a complex topic and..."

"Cam, it's simple. 'Espionage and Assassination.' Simplest topic I've seen in a while." Bex rolled her eyes, busy typing away, probably writing her own paper.

"So, we'll ask again. Why'd it take so long?" Macey crossed her arms, still smiling. Liz pulled her eyes away from her laptop for my response.

"Zach joined me." I evaded, "We started talking and lost track of time."

"Sure. Talking." Bex snorted.

"Why do I feel you know more than your letting on?" I shook my head at my friends.

"Because we always do." Liz broke into a smile.

"So, was he good?" Bex asked, not breaking her typing rhythm.

"Bex, I think you have the wrong idea..." I crossed the room and set the laptop beside the printer.

"Cammie, she meant was he a good kisser?" Macey tapped her fingers on her arm impatiently. "Well, was he?"

"I don't think I would be the best to say." He was only the second guy I'd ever kissed.

"Better or worse than Josh?" Macey cut right to the point.

"Zach was the better kisser. But with Josh it actually meant something." I spoke quietly.

"Do you think it will ever mean anything with Zach?" Liz piped up.

I thought about it, "I don't think so. He doesn't seem like the type to settle down and have a girlfriend like Josh was. Plus, he needs to keep up his street cred."

**Zach P.O.V.**

Sure we couldn't fit through the vents ourselves, but a bug taped to a tape measure could. Our need to eavesdrop on the girls started right before Cammie left.

"I finished!" She exclaimed, adding the last period with a flourish.

"Lucky." I groaned, trying to come up with the topic sentence for my second paper, the one Cammie had just finished.

"Maybe next time you should do your homework on time. Then you wouldn't be in this predicament." She lectured me, "I'm going to go print this. Do you want me to come back or..?"

"Nah, I'm actually going to head to my room. It's going to be a late night." I stretched and yawned, "Come on, I'll walk you to your room."

"Zach, don't bother, their in opposite directions."

"You know Cammie, you make it really difficult to be a gentleman. First I have to fight you to take your bags and now I'm going to have to fight you to take you to your room."

"Zach, I don't want to explain to-"

"I'll see you around then, Gallagher Girl." And I left.

"Get the bugs." I commanded as soon as I got into our room. Jonas jumped at the chance to test out his new prototype.

"It's a camera and a mic and it has a heat sensor and it's smaller than a pencil tip!" Jonas raved, pulling out the false bottom to his desk drawer.

"What are we bugging?" Grant asked, looking at me suspiciously.

"The girls' room." I moved a desk to the base of the wall, right below the vent.

"Jonas, we can't put cameras in their room." Grant was the voice of reason. Sure, the wrongness had crossed my mind, but a picture is worth a thousand words.

"But we did it with Toby's and Ron's..." Jonas complained, but when he saw the look on Grant's face he consented, "Fine. Mic and Heat sensor ok?" He pulled out one of his older model.

"That's better." Grant smiled, grabbing the tape measure we kept for this exact purpose.

Grant handed the tape measure up to me on the desk. Jonas handed me the bug, keeping the video screen in his hands. I attached the two pieces and slowly fed the tape measure through the vent.

"Passing 328." Jonas directed, watching the screen. Faint voices began to crop up, first male, then female. "326. 324. 322. 320. Right there." I shook the object, allowing the bug to fall. "It landed right on the vent. Nice job."

"Better or worse than Josh?" Macey's voice was the first to come through, load and clear.

"Zach was the better kisser. But with Josh it actually meant something." Cammie's voice hardly came across.

I could feel Grant and Jonas's questioning gazes on me, but I kept my eyes on the screen, showing the girls' heat measures.

One stood by a desk, in front of her laptop. Another stood in the middle of the room. The other two were both typing on computers, lying on their beds.

"Do you think it will ever mean anything with Zach?" Liz piped up.

It was silent for a moment, "I don't think so. He doesn't seem like the type to settle down and have a girlfriend like Josh was. Plus, he needs to keep up his street cred."

"You have street cred?" Grant asked, laughing. I just shrugged.

"Who's Josh?" Jonas asked. I had to shrug again.

"Next question." Macey broke the silence in the girls' room, "How does that make you feel?" She sounded like that shrink they made me see after my mom went rogue.

"It's not like I ever expected it, so honestly?" Cammie paused, "I don't really care."

"Zach?" Grant's voice was a whisper, "Don't tell me you want the one girl you can't have."

I was silent.


	9. Chapter 9

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Gentleman!" Mr. Pierce called to the class, "And Ladies." They were always an afterthought here. "Today, we spar." Grant and I glanced at each other, confirming our partnership, "Not so fast, Mr. Goode, Mr. Newman. You didn't let me finish." He paused for dramatic effect. "Today we spar with CIA operatives."

In walked Joe Solomon and a woman. The woman wore shorts and a tight tank top. She had long dark haired pulled back into an elaborate braid of sorts with dark make up framing her green eyes, making them pop. She was hot and all the guys in the room knew it. "Ladies and Gentleman, Agents Joe Solomon and Abigail Cameron." The third Morgan woman, "Now who wants to go first."

"Let's go, squirt!" Abigail pulled Cammie to the mats.

"Aunt Abby, do we really need to-" She dodged her aunt's kick and countered it with a fast jab.

The two women circled and went on fighting as we all looked on. They fought with different styles. Abby played on the offensive while Cammie preferred the defensive. That is, until Abby made a mistake. She went in for a punch, with both feet fully on the ground instead of on the balls, as they should have been. Cammie grabbed Abby's fist and spun, throwing Abby to the ground. Cammie twisted her aunt's arm behind her back, effectively pinning her to the ground.

"Good job squirt." Abigail praised once Cammie let her go.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

Abby took a break from fighting after she pinned Bex in her fifth fight. Joe took over the fight mentoring.

"That is a gorgeous sight." Bex stated, taking in the sight of the Mr. Solomon and Grant fighting shirtless.

"I'm taking it you girls like it here." Abby laughed.

"Very much." Bex nodded appreciatively.

"What about you, squirt?" She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. I felt my eyes flicker involuntarily to Zach. "I see." My all-knowing aunt laughed. "Think anything will happen?" I shrugged.

"Something already has happened." Bex spoke mischievously.

"Really?" Aunt Abby first angled her body to look at me then turned to face Bex, "Please do tell!" My aunt could be such a teenager.

"Well, the other night her and Zach kissed." Bex smiled at me, but I kept my eyes on the fight, "Then, she came back and said they had no chance of a future. No matter how short."

"And why is that Cammie?" She turned on me in an accusatory fashion.

"Look at him." We all did. He was across the circle the class had formed.

"He's beautiful." Macey shrugged, having come up beside me during the conversation. He, like most other guys in the class, was shirtless. His muscles rippled slightly as he clapped and cheered his roommate on along with his classmates. As much as I hated to admit it, Macey was right, "What's your point?"

"He's textbook bad boy." I might not know guys, but I've read my fair share of reading. Topics ranging from the criminal mind to any teen novel and chances are, the bad boy is usually just that: a bad boy.

"Nothing about Zachary Goode is textbook, Cammie." Abby shook her head looking at me with something resembling pity in her gaze. She turned back to look at Zach before speaking again, "Do you know about his mother?"

"Well, just what Tina said, but Tina's information isn't exactly known for its reliability." I hedged.

"What did she say?" My aunt asked. My friends were looking on questioningly since I hadn't bothered to tell them the definitely flawed information.

"Tina said that she was evil. That she went rogue on the CIA." I laughed at the stupidity of the claim, expecting my aunt to laugh along with me, but she didn't, "Come on. There is no way that's true!"

Aunt Abby took a deep breath before speaking, "Catherine Goode. She was in my year at Gallagher. She was always such a sweet girl, some of you girls remind me of her. She married a Blackthorne boy almost right out of high school. Her husband and she were both active operatives, then about ten years ago, her husband died on a mission. Shot in the head by a sniper while undercover as a member of a Russian mob. Catherine was never really the same after that from what I heard. A few years later, the CIA found out she was rogue, passing information. She was never caught.

"Since both his parents were constantly in and out of the field, Zach has been enrolled at Blackthorn since he was three. He was the only one his age. I met him a few times when I stopped by to give a lecture to some of the upperclassmen. Before his mom went rogue he was always so sweet, after, he hardened himself. That was when he began to pull the whole 'I've been longer so bug off routine.' That's how the Blackthorne hierarchy works since boys can come to the school anywhere between pre-school and sixth grade. Since Zach had been there for seven years, he had a lot of kids beaten since most don't come until their middle school years. Zachary Goode is anything but textbook anything."

At this point, I was gaping at Zach. I don't know why I was so amazed, in a way it all made sense, but I just couldn't believe it. I didn't know how to respond to this new development. Zach hadn't always been the too-cool-for-school bad boy we all knew today. The boy from that picture was gone; his mother had destroyed him.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

Solomon and Grant dodged and punched and kicked. Neither were able to get the upper hand. Grant was by far the strongest of us, too bad he wasn't the smartest fighter. There was more to fighting than just strength. A fighter has to be able to think and think on their feet. But Grant didn't think on his feet. He just punched. Which is why it didn't surprise me when Solomon's fist connected with Grant's jaw sending Grant stumbling back. Solomon used this hesitation to wrestle Grant to the ground, effectively ending the fight.

"Nice try, Newman." Solomon laughed, helping Grant off the ground, "Who's next?"

"I am." I stepped onto the mat, letting Grant take my space in the circle.

"How you doing Zach?" Joe asked quietly as we walked in circles around each other.

"Just dandy." I laughed. "You?" We spoke in hushed tones making it impossible for students to hear us (we didn't start lip reading until our junior year) "How about you?"

"It's good to be back." Joe smiled, making a quick jab at me.

"Not enjoying Gallagher?" I asked.

"Better food. And the girls are a bit more- tame- than you boys." He had taught here for several years until he suddenly moved to Gallagher.

"Come on, Joe, you're getting soft." I was able to land a punch on his shoulder. I think I popped it out of socket, but the victory was short lived. He wrestled me to the ground.

"Don't call me Joe."

"Whatever you say, Joe." I kneed him in the stomach and slid out from under him. I jumped on his back and held him down. 1. 2. 3. "Thanks for the fight Joe."

"Only two out of twenty were able to beat us." Agent Cameron spoke after Joe and I had stood. I couldn't help but notice her throw a mischievous look at Cammie, "Let's have them fight. See who is number one."

I looked at Cammie. She hadn't spoken to me since that night we kissed. Almost a week ago. "Oh. This should be fun."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

I walked to the mats. Suddenly hyper aware of the drying perspiration all over my skin. I stood a little over an arms length away from Zach. Zach, who stood there with his bare broad shoulders and perfectly tanned abs. His breathing was harder than mine, he had just finished his fight and hadn't fully recovered.

Zach crouched a bit, posed to attack. I stayed straight up, on my toes. We began circling. He resembled a predator, ready to attack. I, however, just followed him in the circle. Observing his stance, looking for openings.

"You do know I won't be going easy on you, Gallagher Girl." He whispered, smirking.

"Now why would you?" I asked smiling down at him.

He lunged, I slid to the side, turning back to face him. He regained his balance and lunged again, this time, he caught me. Slamming me onto the floor underneath him.

"Looks like I won." But I kept struggling. I looked up at him. I had one last card I could play. He had my arms and legs pinned down, but I was able to lean my head up, kissing him. His hold on me slackened. I used this hesitation to flip us over and pin him. "Now that's not far, Gallagher Girl." Zach whispered to me after the teacher declared me the winner.

"All is fair in love and war." I whispered back.

"And which would this be?" He asked smirking.

I paused, pretending to think about it, "War. Definitely war."

The bell rang just then and I jumped up, running off to the locker room.


	10. Chapter 10

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Don't beat yourself up." Joe Solomon's voice rang through the trophy room. Instead of going to lunch after assassination class, I had come up here.

I did this often, maybe too often. I did it on good days; I did it on the bad ones. I did it before and after exams. I would just come up here; to this little room nestled in the western tower and stare at a single plaque. It was a plaque of fallen Blackthorne boys, killed in the line of duty. There were hundreds of names, dating back to the school's founding, but I only ever looked at one. 'James Goode-2001.'

"I come here on good days too." I stayed facing the plaque.

Joe came up beside me, "Why do I feel like today isn't one of them?" I didn't speak, "She's better than most people realize. She's better than she realizes." He didn't say her name, but I knew he was talking about Cammie.

"I've been in training since I was three. Since I could walk." She shouldn't be able to beat me. She should be able to pull a stunt like that to beat me.

"So has she." I could see a small smile playing on his face.

"I wasn't trained by those Spy Kid movies." I spoke, "I was trained by elite operatives."

"Zach, she was trained by four operatives, at least."

"And I was trained by many more than that."

He held up a finger, a smirk playing on his face. "Operative one. Rachel Morgan. The Gallagher Academy, Class of 1990. Number one in her class. Fully active for three years, partially for thirteen before becoming headmistress of Gallagher Academy in the year 2007.

Another finger. "Operative two. Abigail Cameron. The Gallagher Academy, Class of 1993. Number two in her class. Fully active for nineteen years. Occasional appearances at Blackthorne and Gallagher as a mentor and as a speaker.

And another "Operative three. Myself. The Blackthorne Institute, Class of 1990. Number two in my class." I had known there was one better so this didn't shock me, "Fully active for sixteen years. In 2006, begins teaching at Blackthorne for five years before switching to Gallagher in 2010."

"And the fourth?" I was getting impatient of this walking-talking-résumé thing.

"Operative four. Matthew Morgan. Her father." I have been trained to keep my face blank, but at that moment, pure shock must be plastered on my face.

"The Matthew Morgan?" I knew his name. I knew her last name. I knew he was a Blackthorne legend, but I never stopped to consider that he had married, that he had kids, "Is Cammie's father?"

"Matty graduated in 1990, number one in our class. Active until he went missing in 2006. Cammie was ten." Joe spoke of his friend in a sad voice. It was no secret that he missed him; they had been best friends, after all.

Matthew Morgan had set almost every record this school has. Running, fighting, computing, basically if it was related to work in the field he was an ace at it. And Cammie Morgan was his daughter.

"Cammie is Matthew Morgan's daughter." For the first time, my eyes rested on a different name on the plaque, 'Matthew Morgan - 2006.'

"You know," Solomon spoke after three minutes of silence, "I have something I was supposed to give her. I forgot. Think you can bring it to her?" He handed me the sweatshirt he had been holding under his arms.

"Ya sure." A Blackthorne sweatshirt. Matthew Morgan's sweatshirt.

"Zach." He called just as I was leaving the room, "Don't hurt her."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"You sure you don't want to come?" Bex asked, lacing up her sneakers.

"Bex," I glanced at my friend, "Do you really want me to go running with you and Grant?"

"I guess you're right." She pulled at her shirt, trying to find a position for optimal cleavage. She crossed the room and smiled at me just before she opened the door, "Don't wait up." I shook my head and turned away, back to my COW notes, "Ya she's in there, go on in." Bex spoke, but I didn't look up, I figured it was Tina or Aunt Abby or something.

So imagine my surprise when, of all people, Zach's voice rang out just after the door closed, "Hey there, Gallagher Girl." I spun, rather ungracefully, around on the ground to face him, "Woah. Don't freak out." He held his hands up in surrender, "I have a present for you, from Joe."

There it was, my dad's sweatshirt. He walked over to me and handed it to me, "Thanks."

"Not a problem." He smiled cockily at me, "What are you doing?" He eyed my notebook.

"I'm trying to figure out the purpose of this lesson!" It had been too simple! And take it from a girl whose first relationship ended with your (now ex) boyfriend almost staking your teacher to a wall with a fork lift, nothing in life is ever simple.

"I'm pretty sure it's just the correlation between democracy and economy." He squatted down beside me, looking at my notes over my shoulder.

"It can't be that simple!" I exclaimed. Nothing in this life is simple.

"But it is Gallagher Girl." I looked up at him, my gaze was met by his dark green gaze, filled with amusement, "Please tell me this isn't what you girls do for fun on Friday nights."

"Well, we can't exactly go hang out on the grassy field." They were in the mountains, not much grass here, "And your boys are commandeering the common room." We had already tried for a movie night.

"I could kick them out if you girls want to have a Dance Dance Revolution marathon or something." He offered me a little half smile.

"Nah. Bex is out with Grant, Macey is with some seniors and Liz and Jonas are trying to hack into a Russian mob's bank account for the FBI." I shrugged, but Zach gawked (as much as Zach Goode could gawk), "She does this stuff all the time." I guess Jonas didn't.

"Sounds like all your girls all have dates."

"Nothing official." No one had said date to his or her 'partner.'

"Well then, what do you plan on doing tonight?" He asked.

"I told you! Trying to figure out this lesson!" I turned my attention back to the notes he had distracted me from.

"Wrong answer." He snatched my notebook from me and held it out of my reach, "Go put on some sweatpants and shoes. We're going to have some fun." I honestly thought about typing his words into the boy to English translator Liz had developed, but decided against it.

"And what does 'some fun' entail?" I asked, still trying to grab onto the notebook.

"You wanted to know what that class is. I'll show you." He smirked at my expression, "But only if you hurry up!" He clapped his hands, "Now go."

I stood and rummaged through my drawers, pulling out a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt. I slipped into the bathroom to change. It was only once I saw my reflection that I blushed, realizing what I was wearing. My hair was tied up into a messy bun perched precariously on top of my head. I wore a flimsy tank top with a pair of light blue-checkered boxer shorts. Short, boxer shorts. Like really short. I changed quickly, hoping to erase the idea that Zach Goode saw me in this.

I finally emerged from the bathroom having fixed my hair, pulling it into a ponytail where it had one been that horrific bun. Zach was sitting on my bed, leaned over with his elbows on his knees, "Ready?"

"I guess." I slid on a pair of those fuzzy brown slippers girls try to pass off as winter boots (trust me, you do not want to be walking the streets of Canada in March, or in the forests of the Appalachians in just these boots).

"Let's go Gallagher Girl." He led me out of the room and down a series of hallways, "Wait here." He had led me to a hallway ending in a mirror, much like the entrance to our Sublevels.

I took in Zach's form from behind (and the mirror). His Blackthorne sweatshirt and perfectly fitted jeans. He stared directly at the mirror, his face blank his eyes that enticing shade of deep emerald. Did I really just call any part of Zach enticing?

"Zachary Goode." His voice was strong and sure, not the voice of a boy whose mother had deserted him.

"Weapon." The automated voice rang out. Zach pulled his sweatshirt up, reaching around to pull out the weapon just peaking out of the back of his jeans. He held the gun up so the mirror could 'see' it, it was the same type of gun as the one Liz was shot with, or, so I thought, but I didn't know much about guns other than they killed people. "Shooting range?"

"Yes." The mirror slid open. He turned back to look at me and held his arm out to me, "Come on."

I walked up to him, allowing him to place his arm around my waist and guide me into the elevator.

The elevator ride lasted a while. Zach leaned against the wall, watching me, "You won't freak out will you?" He asked me, his eyebrows pulled together.

"Why would I?" I asked. It was a shooting range, it's not like it was shooting actual people.

"I don't know," He spoke quietly, "I don't want you to freak out." The doors opened, revealing a long hallway. "We all have a locker down here." He said leading me down the hallway. "They shift each year." Farther down the hallway we went until we came to the fifth set. I read the names. Codenames.

"Who's who?" I asked. These were the sophomores.

"You can't laugh. Some of us have been here for a while and, well, we pick them on our first day. Promise." A smile played on his face, but I could tell he was dead serious.

"Does Zachy not like getting made fun of?" His smile broadened, "Well, I'll be nice then. I promise." I held my hand up in that scouts honor symbol.

"Think you can guess them?" It was a challenge.

I paced up and down the row of lockers, reading the names. Chuckles. Ging. Techy. Blondie. Temp. Stormy. Big Blue. Sneakster. Fighter. And Blackthorne. "Let's see. Process of elimination. Techy would be Jonas right? Or is it Michael?"

"It's Jonas." He smiled.

"Ok. There's one. Big Blue Eyes? Owen?" He nodded. Two down. "That's cute."

"He was four." Zach shrugged.

"Ging. Ginger? Michael?" Zach nodded again.

I worked my way down the line. Temp was Temper for Toby. Ron was Stormy for his stormy gray eyes. Blondie was Joey for his blonde hair. Noah was Chuckles due to his position as the class clown. Noel was Sneakster, a less impressive counterpart to my Chameleon. "So that would make Grant Fighter and you, really Zach? Blackthorne?"

He offered me a small smile, "I was three. I tried for 'Spy,' but they wouldn't let me. Said it would be too easily compromised. Blackthorne was the only other spy thing I could think of." He shrugged at my laugh. "Remember how you promised to not freak out?" I nodded, "Well, don't." He placed his hand on the surface of the locker. The locker popped open.


	11. Chapter 11

**Zach's P.O.V.**

I watched her face as she took in the contents of the locker. The collapsed sniper riffle, the regular riffle, the hand guns, the semi automatics, the fully automatics, basically, if any government used a type of gun, at least one of them was in there, plus some.

"You know how to use all of these?" She asked without her glaze straying.

"Yup." I popped the 'p.'

"Which one am I using?" she asked, picking up an automatic.

"Ah!" I snatched the gun from he grasp. "Not that one." She looked at me puzzled, "Way to much power. Too many rounds a minute."

"Then which one am I using?" I saw her hand twitched toward the sniper.

"This one." I pulled out the small handgun, "It's the one we all start on."

She shrugged and walked over to the shooting gallery posing herself in what she thought was a good stance. "No, no, no." I chuckled a bit. I walked up behind her, lining limbs up with hers, arm to arm, leg to leg. "Leg shoulder width apart." I pushed her legs closer together, "Arms straighter, stronger." I guided her arms to the right position, "Grip like this." I laid my hands over her much smaller ones, adjusting the grip. I left one hand over hers and reached onto the counter in front of her with the other. I fiddled with the control panel, causing a shooting target, a simple bullseye, to pop up from the ground about twenty feet away. I grabbed the ear plugs from the table and put them on her ears as an after thought: she wasn't used to gun fire like we were.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Now," his voice was muffled due to the ear muffs he had placed on my head, a bit clumsily if I might add, "On three, pull the trigger. Keep your arms straight, aim, 1." His strong arms loosened around me, "2." His hands fell to my hips, "3." He squeezed my hips as I squeezed the trigger.

Even with the ear muffs on I flinched, but he held me steady, his chest pressed up against my back. "Shouldn't you have these things on?" I asked turning and gesturing to the earmuffs.

"Careful Gallagher Girl." he took the gun from my hand and laid it on the counter, "These things are live." I spoke an apology, "You can stop yelling." He laughed, sliding the earmuffs from my head, leaving them around my neck, "And you can't use them in the field, so I need to be used to the noise." He smirked down at me, "Think you can shoot one on your own?"

"Let's try." I lined up the shot like he had showed me, pulled the earmuffs on and shot. It wasn't as good as the first, but it wasn't horrible.

"I've seen better." He laughed from behind me. I turned to shoot him a glare, but his back was to me, rummaging in the locker. "Think you can do a few rounds of those on your own?" He looked at me over his shoulder.

"Of course, Blackthorne Boy." I smiled, "But what are you going to do?"

"I," he turned around and my eyes fell on the sniper riffle, "Will be playing with the big boy guns."

"So, you actually had a good time?" He asked me just outside my room.

"Surprisingly, yes." It was true.

"Surprisingly?" He raised his eyebrows and smirked.

"Well, shooting guns aren't a typical first d-" I shut my mouth.

"First what, Gallagher Girl?" He leaned down so we were almost nose-to-nose. His hands were behind his back and a cheeky smile was plastered on his face.

"Nothing." I mumbled averting my eyes; I could feel the blush filling my cheeks.

"Come on Gallagher Girl, first what?" He tried to angle himself to make our eyes meet, but I eluded him, "Say it." I mumbled the word he was looking for, "I can't hear you Gallagher Girl."

"This is getting less pleasurable." I stated.

"Please Cammie, just say it." My eyes snapped up to his, "What?"

"That was the first time you called me by my name."

"I use your name all the time." He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Not to me." He started to argue, but then thought about it. Realization fell on his face, "See. I'm right."

"I guess you are, Gallagher Girl." He smirked at me, "Nice topic change by the way."

"Why thank you!" I feigned flattery. We both laughed, "It's getting late..."

"I know how to take a hint, Gallagher Girl." He chuckled, taking a step back. "Goodnight." He gave a playful bow of the head.

"'Night, Zach." I smiled, opening my door.

"Oh and thanks for the date." He smirked at me before walking off down the hallway.

I lucked out and the room was empty. Thank the lord. I went about my nightly routine: brushed my teeth, tied up my hair, washed my face, changed. While I was getting ready for bed, my roommates entered the room at random intervals. I could here them whispering about me. Things like "Why's she smiling like that?" or "What'd she do?" or, my personal favorite from Macey, "Is she high?"

I fell asleep and, though I'll never admit it, dreamed of Zachary Goode.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

It was three in the morning and I was standing in the Grand Hall, leaning against the main staircase, with the rest of my class. Do people get some kind of sick pleasure from waking me up in the middle of the night? Because it seems to be happening far to often for my pleasure.

We had been waiting here for ten minutes. Waiting to go _camping_. Camping. They wake us up in the middle of the night to go camping. In the mountains. In the late fall. People seem to get a sick pleasure not only from waking me up, but from torturing me and my classmates.

Just then the girls descended the stairs, still half asleep. I had been up long enough to know that these girls might be trained operatives, but seeing as they were descending the stairs slowly dragging duffle bags behind them, they obviously weren't too bright in the middle of their sleep. As if reading my mind, Liz tripped and stumbled, uttering a loud "Oppsie Daisy!" Before landing on top of Jonas, her bag on top of her.

Grant and I laughed at our friend while helping our roommate and his 'love interest' back onto their feet. Cammie wandered over to us, along with her friends, dragging her bag behind her.

"Hey," I said quietly (I, unlike other people in this school, realize loud noises aren't pleasent to wake up to.

"Hi." She whispered, still more or less asleep, leaning her head against my chest. I wrapped an arm around her, letting her snuggle into my chest, grabbing onto my sweatshirt. She yawned quietly and seemed to fall asleep with her eyes open in my arms. I met Grant's eyes and he winked at me, wrapping an arm around Bex.


	12. Chapter 12

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Are we there yet?" Bex's voice whined.

"Soon." A man's exasperated voice came, a bit farther ahead.

I let my eyes flicker open. I was in the very back of three rows in a van. In the front, there was Liz and Jonas clicking away on some handheld device that looked a lot like a cell phone, but none of us had cell phones since our schools' security knocks out any and all signals. In the row in front of me Macey sat with Ron, they weren't talking. Macey stared out the window while Ron was turned around talking with Grant who was sitting in my row. Bex was between Grant and I, listening in on the boy's conversation. And Zach was underneath me. I started.

"Looks like she's awake!" Ron laughed.

"Calm down, Gallagher Girl." Zach whispered in my ear. Even though I couldn't see his face I knew he was smirking.

"Why am I on your lap?" My voice was heavy with sleep.

"Not enough room in here, Camster." Bex laughed, "And we figured you'd be heartbroken if you found out you had the opportunity to sit on Zach's lap and had to pass since you were asleep."

"I would not be!" I exclaimed shooting forward.

"Ouch, Gallagher Girl." Zach feigned hurt. He had his arms wrapped around my waist, his fingers laced together beside my hip. I leaned back into his chest, his very well toned chest, "That's better, wouldn't you say?" I let my head rest on his shoulder, my forehead against his neck. I could feel his steady pulse, his steady heart beat. I smiled to myself, "What?" He whispered so only I could hear.

"What what?" I twisted my neck to look up at him.

"Why are you smiling?" He had his own small smile.

"It's nothing." I shook my head.

"Please, Gallagher Girl?" I relented.

"I'm just..." My voice got a lot quieter, "Really comfortable."

At first I didn't think he heard me, because he stayed silent, just watching me, "Me too, Gallagher Girl." He gave me a light squeeze. I lay my head back down on his shoulder, listening to the steady thump-thumping of his heart.

* * *

"This is how this exercise is going to happen." Mr. Solomon called to the sophomore class. We were standing in a parking lot on the edge of a forest. "The name of the game is survival. You will be in groups of four. Within the bags of the group there will be two tents, sufficient food supplies for a few days, after that you must hunt." His eyes rested on the boys, but not for sexist reasons, but because they were each packing a gun, somewhere on their person. "As well as some matches and other basic gear."

"Now for groups." My aunt appeared out of nowhere. We all glanced at each other forming group, "Not so fast kiddies." She laughed and pulled out a clip board, "I have the groups right here. I think I did a fairly well in pairings. Anna, Tina, Toby and Noel. Eva, Mick, Owen and Joey. Courtney, Kim, Michael and Noah. Liz, Macey, Jonas and Ron. And then Cammie, Bex, Zach and Grant." She looked up at me mischievously, "We will not tell you how to set up your camp sights, but I suggest you do so in a way that will eliminate any temptations." Her gaze shifted onto Zach, as did Mr. Solomon's, "You will be out here until next Sunday. Every week day you will have a challenge. "

"Gentlemen. You are all licensed drivers, and each group will receiving a truck, for use in emergencies only." Agent Matthews lectured. Pulling several sets of keys from his pocket. He began passing the keys out to boys, "Mr. Chaplin. Mr. Leach. Mr. Russell. Mr. Crippen. Mr. Goode." Zach caught the keys in one hand.

"This is not a truck." Grant complained staring at our vehicle.

"Come on, Grant!" Zach jogged up behind him and clapped him on the shoulder, "It has character." Bex and I just stared at the old pick up truck. Zach was right, it did have character.

"Do we trust him to drive this?" Bex asked me quietly while the boys fought over the keys. "Or provide us with food?"

I watched the boys jokingly punch at each other. Zach's eyes met mine for a split second, he winked, "I think so."

* * *

"You guys decent?" Bex's entered the tent.

"The point is mute if you barge in anyway Bex." I spoke refusing to enter the boys tent until it was confirmed they were all covered.

"Cammie, you can come in." Bex called. I climbed into the tent, only to be greeted by two teenaged boys clad only in sweatpants.

"Bex! You said they were decent." I spun around. I heard them all laugh.

"Everything that needs to be covered is covered and I never did say they were decent." Bex retorted, frowning as Grant slid a shirt over his head.

I felt strong arms wrap around my waist pulling me against a hard body. I felt warm breath tickling the back of my neck, "What's wrong, Gallagher Girl?" Zach whispered pushing my hair off of my neck and over my shoulder, "Do you not like seeing us shirtless?" He pressed his lips against my neck. I involuntarily shivered, "But my Gallagher Girl does like that." I could feel the smirk.

"So I'm your Gallagher Girl?"

"Are you anyone else's?" The smirk remained.

"Nope."

"Then I suppose you are."

I turned around in his arms to face him, "So what does that make me exactly?"

"Well you never agreed..." He tilted his head.

"I don't know what I'm agreeing to." I smirked.

"You two." Zach barked at Bex and Grant who were wrestling. I swear to god, she was trying to get his shirt off, "Get your own tent."

"This is my-" Grant complained, "Fine." I guess Zach even had pull on his best friend, because Grant quickly led Zach out of the tent.

"So what am I agreeing to?" I asked, my arms against his rock hard chest. Say it. Just say it. "After all, being a Gallagher Girl can lead to a bunch of different things."

His eyes lost the playfulness, "I need to tell you something. It's kinda important."

"What Zach?"

"It's about my mother. She's a CIA traitor." He spoke really quietly, looking down, but not at me.

I stood on my tiptoes and brushed my lips against his, "I already know. My aunt told me that day in P&E."

"That's why we don't have a fourth roommate you know." He spoke quietly, "Not a lot of parents want their kids to room with a traitor's son."

"Well they don't know what they're missing." I smiled and I knew I meant it.

"Thanks Gallagher Girl." He smiled and kissed me on the forehead.

"So are you going to ask me or just keep beating around the bush?" I looked up at him.

"Be my girlfriend Gallagher Girl?" I nodded. He leaned down and brushed his soft lips against mine. I reached my arms up around his neck and pulled him closer.

"Cammie!" Grant yelled, "Bex stole my shirt!"

I pulled away from Zach and looked up at his smiling face, "Go ahead." He laughed and I ran off.


	13. Chapter 13

"We can't just leave all out supplies outside overnight." Bex argued as we all sat around the campfire Grant had conjured.

"Well they aren't going to fit in the tent!" I threw back. I was sitting on a fallen tree stump with Zach leaning his back against my legs on the ground.

"What if..." Grant glanced at Bex and they exchanged a look, "You two come stay in our tent and we put all of the supplies in yours."

"Why do I feel like you didn't come up with that just now, or on your own." Zach laughed at his friends.

"Me?" Bex feigned shock.

"Yes you." Zach accused.

"Fine. Me. But Grant and I are cool with it, are you two?" She asked us.

Zach looked up at me with those beautiful green eyes, "It's up to you, Gallagher Girl."

I watched his eyes, trying to gauge his reaction as I spoke, "What about those temptations Abby mentioned."

"Strength in numbers, Cammie, strength in numbers." Bex responded.

I could see Zach was waiting for my answer, "We'll try it out." I spoke slowly. Something in Zach's eyes shifted.

"Zach?" Grant prompted.

Zach kept his eyes on me as he spoke, "I guess so."

Bex and Grant turned back to each other, talking about the hike we had all taken that day. Zach pulled himself up onto the stump beside me. He wrapped one of his arms around my waist, "You don't have to do this if you don't want to. I'd understand."

"No, it's fine." I whispered.

"Cammie." One of those weird times he used my actual name, "You don't have to. I'll make the stink if you don't want to listen to Bex complain."

"No. It will be fun." I smiled at him. He reached over with his free hand and took my much smaller one.

"If you say so Gallagher Girl."

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"Zach run!" The woman called to the small boy, the men advancing on the two, "Go now!"

I watched the scene from above, as if I was a bird, but I wasn't a bird. I was the little boy, frozen in the middle of the forest.

"But Mommy! Daddy said I needed to protect you!" The little boy yelled, tears filling his eyes.

"I'll be fine sweetheart! Just go!" She pushed the boy away from her, away from the men with big guns advancing on her.

The boy glanced back one last time before running off into the forest, back to his school.

"Zach!" One of the men yelled, "Zach!" I started and shot up in my sleeping bag, "Ow! Man! The hell?" Grant was lying on his back clutching his head, as was I.

"Why'd you wake me up?" I asked rubbing my forehead.

"You were talking." He spoke tentatively, "About your mom. It's back isn't it? The dream." I nodded, falling back against the ground.

It had been the first time she had visited me at school since my dad had been killed and she had met the same fate. She had been executed by those men, or so I had thought. In 2006 a group of CIA operatives arrived at the school and informed me she was, in fact, alive and rogue. I was eleven and they took me away from my school, placing me under 24/7 observation. I was interrogated several times as they tried to determine if I was rogue as well. Once they determined I wasn't, they killed me off in basically every database known to man. Joe had taken custody of me, although he rarely used the "Legal Guardian" card. He acted more like an uncle rather than a parent. "Did the girls wake up?"

"They are like the living dead." He laughed. He cocked his head to the side, "Do you hear a car?"

"Ya." I groaned, grabbing my gun from the duffle beside me.

Grant and I carefully exited the tent, weapons drawn. He went first towards the unknown vehicle. The driver side door opened and Joe Solomon slowly emerged, hands raised in surrender, "Glad to see you're keeping your partners safe." We slid our weapons into the back of our pants. "I came to deliver the directions to the first task." He handed Grant an envelope, "Where are my students?"

"Asleep," I spoke, "In the tent." I gestured to the tent.

"You're all in the same tent?" He asked, not accusatory, just curious.

"Strength in numbers." Grant repeated Bex's word from last night.

"Don't let Abby hear that." He laughed, "I don't know how she'd feel about her niece sleeping in the same tent as a couple of boys, particularly Blackthorne boys." He shook his head, "Good luck." He climbed in the car and drove away.

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Bex! Cam!" I was ripped from my sleep, "Wake up!"

I rolled over in my sleeping bag, "What?"

"Grant. You can't just go in there screaming!" Zach complained.

"Bex! Get up!" Bex's eyes opened and I could see the hatred on her face.

"What?" She growled.

"Solomon came by, he left us the first task." Zach said, in a voice much quieter than his friend, "It's a riddle, but basically, we are campground one and we need to 'plunder' camp number three and get their most prized material possessions. He doesn't want any kidnapping I guess. And we can't carry our possessions with us."

"Who's camp is that?" Bex groaned.

"Our roommates." Grant laughed, "Come on we need to plan." Bex was all of a sudden gone from my side and screaming at the top of her lungs. "Stop complaining Baxter. Let's go." He pulled her out of the tent.

"Please don't do that to me." I begged Zach.

"You kidding me? He woke me up just like that this morning. I'm going back to bed." He lay down on his sleeping bag, on the complete opposite side of the tent.

I stood from my sleeping bag and closed the tent flap. "Do you have a padlock, by chance?"

"Why? Want to be alone? Because these walls are awfully thin, being made of fabric and all." He smirked, emphasizing the 'alone.' "But if you really want to..."

"Do you have a lock or not?"

"Gee, you're grumpy when you've just woken up." I shot him a death glare. "How about one of those luggage locks?" He produced one from his bag.

I took it from him, "Bex designed this in freshman year." I laughed, clipping it onto the two zippers, effectively locking Bex and Grant out, "You know the combination right?"

"Ya," He turned to face me, staying on his back.

"Good, because you can't exactly pick it with a bobby pin. You need some serious machinery to brake it." I lay down on Grant's sleeping bag beside Zach.

"Then when we do the mission, we'll have to use this. We can throw all the stuff in a duffle. Lock it and the tent it's in." He sighed.

"That should work." I turned onto my side and watched him. His chest, clad in a thin white tee shirt, rose and fell softly and evenly, "So what's your most prized possession?"

"You first." He spoke immediately, watching me from the corner of his eye.

"My dad's sweatshirt." I answered. I hadn't really thought about it, but I knew it was true. It was all I had left of him.

Zach reached into his shirt and pulled out a silver chain, much like the ones army tags go on, but instead of dog tags there were wedding bands, a man and a woman's. "They were my parents." He spoke softly, I wasn't even sure if he meant to say it out loud, "My mom gave me my dad's when he, you know, and I got hers when she disappeared. Scouts found it in the woods." He blinked, his eyes staying closed slightly longer than normal, "I know she's a traitor and all, but I still remember her as my mom."

I reached for his hand, the one closest to me, "You don't need to justify it." He pulled his hand from my grip and laid it just above my head. I lifted my head and laid it on his shoulder, draping an arm over his stomach. His arm tightened around my body and grasped my hand that lay on his side.

"Go back to sleep Gallagher Girl." He kissed my temple lying back.

**Bex's P.O.V.**

"Damn it! They locked us out!" I yelled, trying to open the tent flap.

"How?" Grant looked over my shoulder. I opened it as far as it would go, reaching my fingers in, pulling out the small lock I had designed, "Oh! That's Zach's. Lemme see." He pulled it out and dialed in some numbers, clicking it open.

"What is it?" I asked.

"His name." He answered opening the flap and stepping in.

"Look at the love birds." I followed him in. Zach was lying on his back with Cammie wrapped in his arm. Cammie had an arm draped over his stomach and a leg over one of his, "Isn't that cute?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Lock 'em in." Bex commanded, handing Zach the charm bracelet that always hung on her wrist.

"But we're staying here." Grant questioned.

"Precaution." Zach muttered slipping the chain from around his neck and adding it to my sweatshirt, Bex's bracelet and Grant's nautical star pennant (his dad was in the navy) in the bag. "Get ready Gallagher Girl, we leave in twenty minutes."

Bex and Grant left the tent, with the now-locked bag to put it in the soon-to-be-locked supply tent. Zach quickly laced up his hiking boots, tucking his knife into one, "Does it scare you?" He broke the silence.

"Does what scare me?" I asked, looking up from my pathetic excuse for laced boots.

"The knife." He smiled, crossing the tent and kneeling in front of me, "The gun." He unlaced my boots with dexterous fingers.

"I guess a bit." I shrugged, looking down at to top of his head while he tucked my jeans into my boots before he re-laced the them, "But I trust you with them."

He lifted his head to look at me, "Thanks Gallagher Girl." He rose up and pressed his lips to mine. I let my hands run through his hair before bracing the back of his neck. After a little over two minutes he pulled back, "We really ought to get going if you want to go on that hike and still get back in time for a decent amount of sleep."

"But I don't want to." I played my cover, girlfriend being dragged through the wilderness by her rugged (and amazingly hot) boyfriend.

"Too bad." He grabbed my hand, pulling me up as he stood. I grabbed a flashlight. "Let's go."

* * *

"Who's there?" Ron's voice called into the forest.

"It's me, Ron." Zach called, "We got lost and Cammie hurt her ankle."

"Hey man." He lowered his gun. Were all Blackthorne boys this quick on the draw? "Bring her over here, she can sit over here." Zach 'helped' me over to the stump Ron had indicated. "I'll go get something for her ankle." He ducked into a tent.

"What am I looking for?" Zach whispered to me.

"Liz has a necklace. It's a locket. Two pictures. Her parents and her and her sister."

"A little Sutton. Now that's a scary thought." He mused.

"Let me get Macey's?" I asked. Zach looked at me questioningly, "She's a rather materialistic person..." The look remained, "She's had this nighty since we met her. I'm pretty sure it doesn't fit her anymore, but she keeps it. I think her mom bought it for her, but I'm not positive."

"You have any nightys that don't fit?" He played with his eyebrows suggestively. I swatted at his chest, "Sorry. Just kidding." He sat beside me, "Would be nice though..." He muttered, a smile on his face and in his eyes. I just shook my head at him, laughing.

"Need some help?" Ron reemerged with the makings for a splint in his hand, "Zach isn't exactly good at sprains and breaks."

"Just gunshot wounds." Zach chuckled a bit. "Where is everyone?"

"Jonas is over in our tent." He pointed to one, "And the girls are in the other one. All asleep. I have first watch. I guess it paid off though, since Anna and Tina stopped by earlier. I mean, who pulls a robbery in the middle of the day?" He was on his knees in front of me, slipping of my boot and examining my ankle, "Cam, your ankles fine."

"Sorry Ron." He looked up at me questioningly. I pulled back my foot and kicked him hard in the head, sending him reeling backwards. Zach followed him and slapped a napotine patch on his forhead before he could stand.

"You get the girls, I got theirs." He handed me two patches.

I ran over to their tent and entered as quietly as possibly. I put a napotine patch on each of their forheads, knocking them out cold. I rummaged through their bags until I found the nighty before carefully taking the locket from around Liz's neck. I left the tent to see Zach waiting for me, holding a laptop and a nice big machete.

"Ron took a liking to the knives." Zach shrugged.

"What is with you boys and your weapons?" I laughed.

**Bex's P.O.V.**

"Hey Bex, do you see what I see?" He held up his watch, but I knew he didn't mean the face.

"Your watch is so far off!" I exclaimed, "I mean, it says it's almost six!"

"Zach will fix it when he get's back." Grant laughed, "How sad is that? I can disable a bomb but I can't fix my own watch."

"When do you think they'll be back?" I asked.

"I think we have some time." He smirked, wrapping an arm around my waist.

"Good." I turned into him and straddled his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep kiss. I left my eyes as slits, watching Anna and Noel sneak about behind Grant, "How long do you want to keep this up?" I whispered against his lips. His soft, soft lips.

"A while." He muttered, "You?"

"Until they get in the tent." I refrained from laughing, "Then we can resume."

I watched as Noel held the sleeping tent's flap open, letting Anna cross the threshold first before following quickly. I untangled myself from Grant, fingering the lock I had in my pocket. After I had completed my mission I returned to Grant, resuming our position, but Grant pulled back, "What'd you do?"

"I took a page out of Zach and Cammie's book."

"BEX! Let us out!" Anna yelled, trying to open the tent.

"Come on! We don't even know what we're looking for!" Noel called.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"They are going to be so ticked." Cammie laughed, skipping a little ahead of me. I watched her with a smile as she spun, waving Macey's possession around, high off of sleeplessness.

"You are going to trip and hurt your ankle for real." I laughed.

She turned to face me, "Is Zachary Goode worried that his Gallagher Girl is going to get hurt?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" I quickened my space to close the gap between us. I stayed an arms length away.

"Well, I didn't think you'd be the type of guy to get attached." She kept moving backwards, "Then again, I never guessed you'd be sentimental either." She was referring to the necklace.

"Well you thought wrong." I grabbed her hand just before she hit the ground, having tripped over a root.

"Zach?" I pulled her up and leaned her against a tree.

"Yes Gallagher Girl?"

"Can, um, can," She stuttered, blushing.

"Spit it out Gallagher Girl."

"I'm really tired..." She whispered, "Can you?" I turned around and squated a bit.

"Hop on Gallagher Girl."


	15. Chapter 15

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"She fell asleep on a mission?" Bex laughed when she saw Cammie.

"She was tired." I shrugged, "Open the tent."

"Unless you know Cammie's lock's combination, they can't." A guys voice came from in the tent.

"Noel?" I called.

"They locked us in here and now they don't know the combination." Anna complained, "Get Cammie to let us out."

"You have no idea what the combo is?" I asked Bex, "And you locked them in?" She shrugged guiltily.

"Is there room in the other tent?" I asked, but Bex just shook her head. "Grant, rekindle the fire. Bex, try and find some blankets or if you can, clear some space. Noel, Anna, don't touch my stuff."

Bex was able to clear enough space for her and Cammie and produced couple blankets for Grant and I. Grant and I leaned against a log we had rolled over beside the tent. Our guns were out, just in case, his on his lap, mine on the ground beside me, my hand clutched around it.

Bex's breathing had evened out by the time Grant spoke, "So you and Cammie?"

"What about me and Cammie?"

"What's going on with the two of you?" Grant asked, "Are you two, like, official?" Then we went on to answer my unasked question, "Bex asked."

"We're official." I sighed.

"Next Bex question: Do you think you're moving too fast?" I pondered the question.

"In our life, relationships are temporary at best. I wish they weren't, but they are. Might as well enjoy them while they last."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

Bags. Four big bags surrounded me in the tent. Bex was beside me, early morning sun was shining through the mesh window, landing on Bex's chest. I slowly untangled myself from the blankets I was cocooned in and pulled the bag with the trinkets onto my lap, extracting my dad's sweatshirt. I slid it on over my head, pulling Zach's necklace from the bag as well. I slid my boots on, not caring that one leg of my jeans was tucked in and the other was bunched up above and left the tent.

"Morning Camster." Grant spoke to my left.

"Morning." I greeted. I looked past him at Zach, sleeping peacefully, his head leaned back against a fallen log. He bore a striking resemblance to the boy in the picture, which really shouldn't surprise me since he was that little boy, "I have his-" Was Grant supposed to know?

He elbowed Zach hard in the ribs, jerking him awake, his hand went right to the gun lying beside him in the ground, "Your girlfriend has your necklace."

"Shut up." He complained before turning over onto his side away from Grant and I, returning to sleep.

"He doesn't like being woken up." Grant shrugged.

"Well you might have broken his ribs, so I could see why." I stepped over the two boys and sat down beside Zach. "Thought you might want this." I handed him his necklace, which he promptly took and hung around his neck, tucking it into his shirt. "Why aren't we in the other tent?"

"Bex locked us out." Zach mumbled, "She used your lock. Anna and Noel are in there, they tried to pull off their operation while we were gone." He opened his eyes and looked up at me, "Wanna go unlock it?"

"Ya, I got it." I ran a hand through his hair, tousling it about. I crossed the campground and entered the numbers. 626. M.A.M. Michael Andrew Morgan. "Noel, Anna, you can leave now." The pair woke up slowly scurrying off like a couple of sad puppies, their tails between their legs, "Zach. Grant, in." The two boys slowly stood stretching their sore limbs before tucking into the tent. They both collapsed on the bedding we had made and fell asleep quickly.

I laughed to myself before setting about making breakfast. Using some supplies from the packs, I was able to concoct some watery oatmeal.

"Well that looks..." Bex emerged from the tent, "Yummy." She accepted the bowl with a grimace plaguing her face.

"Hey squirt." Abby appeared from the woods, "Do you guys have the stuff?"

Bex nodded, setting down her oatmeal/soup and disappearing into the tent. She came back, juggling the items Zach and I had obtained last night. "Right here." Bex handed over the locket, the nighty, the laptop and the machete.

"Very nice," She took the items into her hands, "Tell the boys that at noon you are expected at the main camp sight for challenge number two." And she left.

"What time is it now?" I asked Bex. I was pretty sure it was around ten, but I wanted confirmation.

"11:18." She checked the time on her watch. Glad I asked, "Go get the guys."

I crawled into the tent to wake the two boys up. Grant went willingly enough, Zach was another case, "Come on Zach. Time to get up." I shook the sleeping boy.

"No. No." He repeated over and over.

I kneeled down beside him and grasped his shoulder giving a shake, "You need to eat and then we need to go."

"I'll skip breakfast."

"Zach..."

"Cammie." He groaned, quickly lifting himself up and throwing me under, "Go to bed."

He leaned down, his body pressed against me, but he kept his weight off. I could feel Zach's even breathing on my ear, his mouth right beside it, "Zach, you need to get up."

"Come on Gallagher Girl. Just enjoy it." He whispered, sending a shiver through my body, "I know you want to."

"Za-" He silenced me with his lips crashing onto mine.

"Just enjoy it."

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"In our line of work," Agent Matthews spoke, "You don't always get to stay in the cushy hotel or the luxurious mansion. Sometimes you get stuck living off the land. While a less desirable cover, it is also a common one. There fore, you must know how to turn a leaf into a bandage, a deer to a meal. Today, your skills will be tested."

* * *

"I told him it would paralyze him but he didn't believe me." Bex laughed to Grant.

"Come on, we all know he's stubborn." Cammie laughed as she fixed a pillow under my head.

"It's only temporary!" I tried to yell.

"Tha tha tha tha tha tha tha to you two." Bex laughed.

"Guys stop bullying him." Cammie smirked, "It happened to Owen and Liz too!" I knew I liked her.

"Well, we will be outside getting the fire going." Grant stood, pulling Bex along with him.

"You're an idiot you know that?" Cammie lay down beside me. She wrapped my arm around her and rested her head on my shoulder, "Mr. Solomon said the effects should wear off gradually and you'll be good as new this time tomorrow." She rested her hand on my chest drawing shapes between my pecs. If I was able to, I would've smirked, "You're almost attractive without that smirk." She kissed me softly on the lips, "I'm going to bed." She went to move away, causing me to whine. She hesitated before laying back the way she was, "Why not? It's not like you can make a move."


	16. Chapter 16

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Trust. It could be a matter of life and death. Today, we will find out how much you have for each other." Mr. Solomon handed out ten blind folds, two to each group. "Pick two people to be guided through a maze, designed specifically designed for this purpose.

"Operatives not blindfolded will guide their blind folded counterparts through several stages. First in order to open the doors to lead to the maze, you must choose the tonic that will allow you to safely digest it, created by the berries you examined yesterday. Then you will need to jump platform to platform over a ravine. From there, there is a swinging rope, use it to cross the first vat of acid, then monkey bars to cross the same vat. If you run into people in the maze, you must fight and pin your opponent down for three seconds. The acid was created by Dr. Fibbs, the R & D teacher at Gallagher, it won't kill, but it will make life rather uncomfortable. For most people." I couldn't help but notice his eyes flicker towards Zach for a millisecond or the tightening of Zach's jaw.

"Gallagher Girl, you can't do this." Zach stated when I asked him to tie the blindfold behind my head.

"Well you can't since you still don't have full motion back. And Grant's afraid of heights." I stated, "I'm sure you'll take care of me." I kissed him on the cheek, hoping he'll agree.

"Be careful Gallagher Girl." He sighed before turning me around and tying the cloth around my eyes. He turned me around to face him, "Promise me you'll be careful." He left his hands on my shoulders, holding me at arms length I'm guessing, "Promise."

"I promise Zach." It was like he though I was going to go jump in that vat for giggles.

"Good." He pulled me into a tight hug. He had one arm around my waist and the other braced my neck, holding my head to his chest, tucked under his chin, "Good luck, Cammie." He kissed the top of my head.

He guided me over to the entrance to the maze. Just as Zach was about to pull away I spoke, "Zach?"

"Yes?"

"Let Grant pick the potion." I went to kiss him where I assumed his lips would be, but I missed.

"Deal." He guided me to him with a chuckle.

"Looks like Goode's finally got a girl." One of the boys, I think it was Toby, but I'm unsure. I was sure, however, of the blush filling my cheeks.

Zach kept his arms wrapped protectively around me. I buried my head in against his neck, "Go to Hell Russell." So it was Toby.

"And that would be a yes." This time it was Macey.

"Children, children." Abby scolded, "Let's not fight. Guides to the platform. Runners be prepared."

* * *

"Cammie, right hand straight forward." Zach's voice came through my comms, "Now to the left, two bottles over."

"Is this coming from you or Grant." I asked.

"Liz." I was reassured, I guess they could collaborate intercamp-ground. Since Liz said it was safe, I was certain it was. I took the flask in my hand, uncorked it and drank. I waited a minute and I didn't die. Good sign, "Now the wall is gone, keep walking forward."

He directed me through the maze, one turn at a time, never once crossing the path of an adversary, "Ok. Three steps forward. You are on the first platform. Point to north." I gave him the 'really?' look, or I hoped it was his direction at least, "Please Gallagher Girl." I pointed north, "Ok good. Two steps northeast. Now jump in that same direction." I landed on the second platform, "Good job. Now two steps south east and jump." He led me through this landmine in this fashion, until we got to the seventh and last platform, "Now your right next to the rope. Its swinging over to you, reach your arms out, to the left a bit. Good. On three, grab on and then jump. One. Two. Three." I grabbed the rope and swung clutching onto it for dear life, "Drop. Good." I could hear the smirk on Zach's lips.

"Almost done Gallagher Girl. Just the money bars. You any good at them." I repeated my exasperated look, "Reach up and there's your first one. Swing. Good." Swings later and I was home free, only one more left to clear, "Just like the others Cam. You're gonna be all set." I swung, my hand closed around the bars. I swung the rest of my body. Just as I was one handedly hanging on, my perspirationally-challengedness took its toll. My sweaty palm slipped and I was falling. "CAMMIE!"

**Zach P.O.V.**

She was going to make it. She was literally within my reach, but I wasn't allowed to touch her or else I would have pulled her in away from the death trap.

"One more Zach, then you can get her." Mr. Solomon spoke quietly behind me. I watchered her, "Just like the others Cam. You're gonna be all set." She swung and reached her goal. It was when she went to bring the other hand through that she slipped, "CAMMIE!" I couldn't reach her in time.

I knew the acid. I had been accidentally exposed to it back in third grade when the juniors tried to prank the seniors and, well, the run off got into the third grade classroom, so now, four Blackthorne boys were not immune, but resistant to it. I dove in after her.

"Zach!" Several different voices called, but I was already out of their reach.

I plunged through the acid, feeling it envelope me. I forced my eyes open, feeling the slight sting I remembered being ten times worse. There she was a few feet below me thrashing around, eyes squeezed shut. I grabbed her and pulled her to the surface, "Keep your eyes closed," I commanded her, swimming one handedly to the platform I had just been standing on. "Help me get her up." Toby and Owen, two of the other 'exposed' boys, rushed over, pulling her out of my reach, but up into safety. I climbed up after her.

I was on my hands and knees beside her coughing up the rancid liquid. Once I emptied my burning lungs I turned to Cammie lying unconscious on her back, but every once in a while she would spasm violently. "Joe, we need to get her to a hospital!"

"There is a 'copter on the way." Joe declared, kneeling beside me.

"Joe? Hayden? What's happening?" Abby rounded the corner, "Who needs a- Cammie!" She ran towards us.

"No! Abby! You need to give her air! You can't-" She flipped Agent Matthews onto his back and ran the rest of the way to her neice.

"What happened?" She looked at me accusingly.

"She slipped. I went in after her." I defended myself. I could here the helicopter coming closer.

Soon the helicopter was directly overhead, a stretcher being lowered down. Joe and I lifted Cammie from the ground and onto the stretcher. They pulled her up before lowering down two ladders, "Zach, Abby. Go." Solomon commanded. Neither of us hesitated. We grabbed onto the ladder, climbing up as it rose back into the machine.


	17. Chapter 17

"Everything's going to be ok." A voice came through the haze, "You'll be fine." I could feel myself trying to reach for the source of the voice but my body was too racked with pain, it wouldn't work. I was paralyzed by my pain.

I had felt the poison coursing into my lungs, through my pores into my blood. I felt it pressing into my eyes and up my nose, pushing against my eardrums. These feeling had diminished, but now the pain was centered in my head and stomach. An unbearable pain that branched out throughout my limbs, getting lesser as the distance increased. This really would be a fabulous form of torture, if the person had any control over anything.

"Cammie!" A voice yelled, "Cammie! You need to stop. Cammie!"

* * *

The pain was diminishing, but it was still there. Still excruciating, but not as bad as before. I could hear better now and I think I was able to wiggle my fingers and toes. It was getting better. I decided to take a chance and open my eyes. I heard myself hiss as the bright lights assaulted my eyes, but compared to the other pain I was experiencing, it was a cakewalk.

"Mr. Solomon! Mr. Solomon! She's up!" I winced at the loud voice, waiting for everything to come into focus.

"Glad to see you've rejoined the world of the living." Mr. Solomon's face came into focus, "Drink this, it will help with the pain." She handed me one of those medicine cups filled with a bluish liquid.

"Zach is going to flip." Bex muttered to Liz, the one who had called Mr. Solomon.

"Hw did tell you that the one time he left she would wake up." Liz laughed, "He's been here the entire time," She turned to me.

"What happened?" I croaked. The pain was slowly subsiding from Mr. Solomon's medicine.

"Well you slipped on the monkey bars and fell into Dr. Fibbs' vat." Liz stated.

"I know that, but after."

"Zach dove in after you. He got you out and into a helicopter with your aunt." Bex spoke, "Apparently, Zach had been exposed to it before so he wasn't effected as much. He was in that bed," She pointed to the one beside me, "For only two days. He was on that couch for the rest."

"The rest?" I exclaimed, "How long have I been out?"

"Five days." Liz shrugged.

"I'll leave you girls alone." Mr. Solomon left.

"Anything excited while I was gone?" I asked, looking for a distraction from the lingering pain.

"Well, we all came back early, the day after you and Zach left. Tina and Toby got caught hooking up by Agent Matthews. He wasn't happy to say the least. Other than that, nothing much."

"I brought some co- She's up!" Zach dropped the coffees he had been holding on the bedside table, turning on Bex, "I told you! And you said 'Shut up and go shower. It will be another day or so.' Last time I listen to you Baxter.

"Another day or so!" Bex yelled back, "I was kind of hoping you'd make a coffee run. Which one's mine?" He stayed glaring at her. "Fine." She picked one up and sipped it, "Liz." She handed it to Liz and drinking a second coffee, "Mr. Solomon's," She placed it back down and picked up a third.

"That's mine." Zach snatched it from her, causing her to smile and pick up her coffee. Zach sat down carefully on the edge of my bed, like he was afraid of breaking me.

"And I couldn't take the smell anymore!" Liz laughed.

"It wasn't my fault I was with her 24/7." Zach spoke sharply.

"You wreaked of vomit!" Bex laughed, watching him over her coffee cup.

"Vomit? Who's vomit?" I question. No one would meet my eyes, "Did I? Oh my god." I pulled my knees up and buried my head in them. I tried to wrap both arms around my knees, but one was so laden with needles and sensors it wouldn't budge.

I felt Zach's hand on my head, stroking my hair, "Did he give her the medicine yet?" I guess somone confirmed it because I felt his weight shift and his arms wrap around me, pulling me onto his lap, "Gallagher Girl," he whispered in my ear, "You couldn't do anything to stop it. It's fine." He kissed just above my ear.

"We're gonna go now... CoveOps and all..." Bex's voice was moving away.

"That's funny because we had CoveOps this morning." I felt Zach's body shake with laughter. Bex stormed out, Liz following behind her quietly. We remained silent with me curled into my little ball and Zach playing with my hair, which I am sure was a greasy mess, "How are you feeling?" He asked quietly.

"I threw up on you." I shook my head.

He chuckled, "It's ok, Gallagher Girl. Really. It's not the end of the world."

"I can't believe I..." He pulled my head up and forced me to look him in the eyes.

"Cam. It was the first sign that you were actually alive and the machines weren't just beeping out of boredom. You have nothing to apologize for." And then he kissed me, oily haired and vomit breathed and all.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"She woke up?" Up until this fiasco, Headmistress Morgan had been just that, a Headmistress of a school I had just learned of. Not once had I really thought of her as Cammie's mom. Well, now she stood in front of me in yoga pants and a large sweatshirt with tennis shoes, all traces of pantsuits and other business uniforms gone. She wore no make up, her face etched with worry over her only daughter.

"For a bit. She fell asleep about an hour ago." I squirmed uncomfortably. I was lying on her daughter's hospital bed with her daughter curled up on my lap.

"I never had a chance to thank you." She spoke quietly, taking the seat beside the bed.

"For what?"

"For saving her. The nurse said if she had been in there too long she would be-" She stopped, "Thank you for saving my daughter."

"It was really nothing. I knew it wouldn't hurt me too bad." I shrugged it off.

"Zach, you spent two days in a hospital bed. It wasn't nothing." She contradicted.

"Would you like me to leave you alone with her?" I asked.

"No you two look comfortable and she needs her rest." She watched the two of us for what seemed like forever, but was actually only five minutes, "You really do care for her don't you?"

"I do." I answered, not needing even a moment of thought.

Headmistress Morgan nodded, "Do you want me to help get her off or are you comfortable like that?"

"I'm fine." Cammie couldn't be much more than 110 pounds.

"Ok then. Goodnight." She stood and walked to the bed. She kissed her daughter's forehead and gave my shoulder a light squeeze before leaving the room.


	18. Chapter 18

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"No." Zach stood firmly with his arms crossed, "It's way too soon."

"The nurse said I could!" I placed the last few books into my bag, "And it's not up to you."

"Gallagher Girl, I just want you to be safe. I know what this acid does, it takes more than a week to get rid of all the symptoms."

"Maybe I'm just stronger than you." I smiled and stepped over to him. I rested my hands on his muscular forearm. Begging him wordlessly to let it drop.

"If you say so, Gallagher Girl." He laughed, pulling me in for a hug, "Just stay nearby."

"Am I on a leash?" I asked.

"That works." He shrugged, "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"And being near you would change that?"

"You'd be amazed what I can do." He winked, "Let's go, we have class soon."

Zach stayed beside me the entire day. He went do far as to force Macey to go to the bathroom with me, it took all my fight to convince him I didn't need her in the actual stall with me.

"I need to stop at my room before P & E."

"Fine then, I'll meet you down there." I just needed two minutes to myself. Just two. Is that too much to ask?

"No. You're coming with me."

"No. I'm not."

"Galla-"

"No. Do not call me Gallagher Girl." I yelled. All my frustration from not having a single freaking moment alone boiled up, "Do not tell me what to do. Do not tell me where to go. Stop being so damn protective. I am a Gallagher Girl. I do not need you to babysit me. I do not need you to protect me. I can take care of myself."

"Really? Because that wasn't the case back in the woods!" He didn't yell. He just looked at me with a deadly glare, his muscles tense, his arms crossed, "You needed me to carry you. You needed me to save you from the acid. So obviously you don't need me. Obviously you can take care of yourself."

"Obviously I can." I knew I was wrong. I knew I was being unreasonable, but I just couldn't bring myself to say sorry. So I turned on my heel, walked down the hall and out of the front door.

* * *

"Cammie!" Bex yelled, yanking me from my punching bag.

"What!" I finally looked at the bag. It's outer layer had ripped, showing its innards. Is that even possible? "Oh."

"Ya. 'Oh.' Go play on the bars or something." I sulked up the stairs onto the loft, which hosted the bars. I gripped onto them and pulled myself up.

69 Perfectly executed pull ups later and the tall barn doors slammed open. In walked five people, all toting heavy machine guns. Four men, all fitting the tall, dark and handsome description flanking a woman. A woman with dark red hair and cool emerald green eyes. A woman I recognized.

"Ladies and Gentleman!" Ms. Goode called out to the room, "My name is Catherine Goode. How are my little sisters today? And my brother-in-laws? Good? Good." She smirked that Goode smirk. Zach. There he was in the back corner, his face totally blank, "This is how this is going to go. You little sophomores are going to stay in here and be quiet while we take care of business. I'll be leaving you with your older brothers, Colby." Two of the men - Colby and Don? - smiled wickedly, "Now Zachary." She looked at her son, "Catch." She tossed him a small handgun. The guns! The boys had guns! Which they left in their lockers.

He caught it effortlessly, "Why are you giving me this?"

"You are the only one I actually care what happens to, so I am giving you a choice. Choice A. Join us and live. Or Choice B. Get shot."

"Why'd you give me the gun then?" He asked, still in his corner.

"Choose A and you'll need it. Choose B and, well, I don't shoot an unarmed man."

Zach looked at his mother and then at the gun. He stood frozen for a moment, then he looked up at the loft, at me. His eyes were cool and calculating, identical to Catherine's. He took the gun and slid it into the waistband of his shorts, "Let's go."

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"What are you looking for?" I asked as I followed my mother down the Blackthorne hallways.

"Later." She brushed me off, "David, Freshmen in 243. Charles, Don, cut off the elevators." Her little drones scurried off to do her bidding.

"They aren't going to hurt them are they?" I asked. They were my brothers after all.

"Not if they don't have to. But if they fail to comply with our demands-"

"Which are?"

"For them? To stay put and do nothing."

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Let's get everyone over here." Colby demanded drawing circles with the barrel of his gun, indicating the mat.

I watched my classmates follow orders while I slunk back into the shadows, praying for a passageway out, or just a hidden compartment, anything to get me away from this. I made my way wall to wall, moving my hands up and down. There it was, invisible to the eye, but obvious to the finger. I slipped my index into the small crack and wiggle it around. A panel slowly fell away, revealing not a way out but a rack of guns.

I scanned my new arsenal. I had seen all of these weapons throughout my time at the Blackthorne Institute from boys, but I had only ever used the one handgun, so that's what I took. I turned and walked as close to the edge of the balcony as I could without being seen. I aimed, hoped the gun had bullets, and whistled. Colby turned toward the sound and a hole appeared in his forehead. His gun fell from his hands, he fell to his knees and then onto his stomach.

"Cammie? How did you-" A boys asked.

"Doesn't matter. Let's go."

We split up into groups branching out across the campus. We had no comms. Half of us had no idea how to work the weapons we were now carrying. I remembered what Mr. Solomon had said about needing a gun means it's too late to be safe. We had the odds thoroughly stacked against us, but that didn't stop us. We were Gallagher Girls. They were Blackthorne Boys. Together we were the future of the CIA. And we had a group of traitors to take down.

"Grant!" One of the freshmen ran up to us, leading a pack of boys, "Care to explain why some huge goon came into our class with a machine gun?"

"No. All you need to know is if you see anyone you don't know, especially with a gun, shoot to disable, ask questions later." Bex instructed, "Zach too."

The freshmen looked taken aback at the mention of their newly-rogue leader, but soon recovered and pulled out their guns.

**Zach's P.O.V.**

"You have to know you won't get away with this." I stated as I watched my mother unveil the tools she had been toting in her backpack.

"That's what you think." She held up a machine that resembled a scalpel. She held it up to the safe in Dr. Steve's office, "You don't even know what I'm going after."

"The Blackthorne Alumni List." I stated, leaning against the desk, swinging my gun around.

"Glad to see I raised a smart boy." She smirked at me.

"You didn't raise me." I stated.

She ignored me, pulling out more of her little toys. She went to work. Slipping and slicing the metal safe with metal tools until it groaned and literally fell apart. I don't mean a little 2 by 2 peice where the lock was, I mean the walls fell away, completely disconnecting at the edges; the top falling to lie on top of the bottom. She moved the top away revealing the disc that held everything about every Blackthorne Boy that ever lived.

My mother packed her tool kit quickly, slinging the bag onto her bag. "Let's go." She led me back through the halls of my school, my home, to the grand hall. She paused there and glanced about, "Take it in Zach." She said a hint of nostalgia in her voice, "This is the last time you will see it."

"No." I spoke quietly.

"Excuse me?" She looked at me like I was crazy.

"No." I said more forcefully, "I will not let you do this."

"I really wished it didn't have to come to this." She reached to her gun holster, a look of shock crossing her face.

"Hope you aren't looking for your gun." I smirked, "I left them in the office." She reached for her knife, "The knife too."

"You son of a-"

"Bitch?" I cocked my head to the side and began to walk in a circle around the woman while talking with my hands, "I never really understood that phrase. After all I'm the son of you. Therefore wouldn't that make you the bitch?"

**Cammie's P.O.V.**

"Do you hear that?" I asked my partners.

"Footsteps." Grant nodded.

"Hope you aren't looking for your gun." Zach's voice came from within the main hall, "I left them in the knife too."

"You son of a-" Ms. Goode spat, but Zach cut her off.

"Bitch? I never really understood that phrase. After all I'm the son of you. Therefore wouldn't that make you the bitch?"

Grant, Bex and I slowly edged our way around the corner so we could see the two Goodes. She was standing still, watching him with her eyes as he circled around her with that damned smirk on his face.

"You're a traitor."

"I'm the traitor?" Zach laughed incredulously. "You're the one who betrayed your country!"

She yelled, "Blood runs thicker than the colors on a flag!"

"What about my father!" Zach was yelling now too. And I had thought the calm and controlled words would be scarier. Boy, was I wrong. "What about your husband? He died for the country you betrayed!"

"You think he died for this country!" He laughed a deranged laugh, doing a 180 to face her son, "He was killed by a sniper. By an American sniper! Your precious country killed your father! They shot through him to get to their target and he died!"

"No." Zach froze temporarily, but shook his head and continued his prowl, "You're wrong, Catherine."

"You do not call me by my first name." She lashed out, slapping Zach hard across the face. But it wasn't a slap meant to necessarily hurt, but to scold, "I am your mother."

"You stopped being my mother when you made me run. Made me think you died. Let the CIA raise me. Let the CIA tell me the woman I had cried myself to sleep over, thinking she was dead, was alive. That she was a traitor." Zach yelled.

She lunged. Zach deflected her. "Grant help him!" Bex ordered. Grant had his sniper riffle he had picked up along the way trained on them. Looking for an opening.

The two fought. Zach kneed her in the stomach, she punched him in the nose. He got his arms around her from behind, trying to contain her, she threw them backwards into a wall. She managed to get a kick in, he caught it and twisted her around. Whether it came with age, or because she was a Gallagher Girl (and we all know Gallagher Girls are far better than Blackthorne Boys on all accounts), but she got the upper hand, twisting them around and grabbing Zach, a full foot taller than her, and wrestled him to his knees, following behind him. She wrapped her arms around his neck. He tried to pull them away, but he couldn't. She did manage to pull his gun from his pants and hold it to his head.

"Grant, do something!" I yelled.

"He had a gun?" Bex scoffed.

Catherine's eyes shot up to us. Zach tried to throw her but she held on, "Grant Newman! Rebecca Baxter! Cameron Morgan!" She called , "How are the parents? Grant, how's your dad liking the Carribean? And Rebecca, your parents down in Nigeria still? Cammie? Find Daddy yet?" Don't let her in your head. Grant trained his gun on her head, "Shoot me. You'll hit him! And Cammie, you wouldn't want that to happen now would you? After all, he took very good care for you in the hospital wing. I did raise a gentleman, now, didn't I?"

"He wants me to shoot." Grant stated, watching Zach. "Three short. Four short. Three long. Three long. One long." Zach tapped Shoot out in Morse code.

"Can you?" Bex demanded.

"I can but it's really iffy." Grant said, "Only way is through his chest."

"You'll kill him!" I yelled.

"Not if I hit it just right and get him medical attention right away." Grant stated.

"Grant!" Owen and Joey ran up to us.

"Owen, you still great at patch work?" Grant asked.

"Ya, why?" He looked at Grant suspiciously.

"Good. Get ready." Owen ran to a wall and opened a hidden compartment pulling out a medical bag like the one Zach had used on Liz.

There was a bang. I watched the hole go right through Zach's chest, right where his heart was. His hand came up and clutched at the hole, pain evident in his eyes. Catherine's eyes, on the other hand, went blank. Dead. Her arms fell away and she crashed to the floor.

"Zach!" I yelled. Running down the stairs, Owen hot on my heels. I collapsed beside him, my hands clutching at him.

"Hey Gallagher Girl." He offered a weak smirk. If he hadn't been dying in my hands I would've scowled at the fact that even at death's door step the boy could muster up a smirk.

"I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." I sobbed, shaking my head. Owen was already starting on the patchwork job.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Gallagher Girl." He lifted a hand and touched my cheek, "I'm sorry, Cammie." He looked into my eyes one last time before his head rolled back and his eyelids fluttered closed.

"Zach!" I lightly slapped at his cheek, "Zach! No. No. No." His blood was spreading everywhere, it was on the ground, on my knees, "Zach! Come back!" I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks. "I love it when you call me Gallagher Girl. I love it how you're so damn protective. I love how you try to take care of me. I love the smirk and the know-it-all smile. I'll even let you tell me what to do and where to go, Zach! Just come back! Please Zach! I need you!"

"Cammie." A force was pulling me away from Zach, "Cammie, you need to let Owen work!" Bex wrestled with me.

"Bex, I need him. I- I love him!" I sobbed into her shoulder.

"Aren't you-" My mother appeared, "Oh my God. JOE! ABBY! GET A DOCTOR!"


	19. Chapter 19

There was the steady beeping of the monitor. I guess it was a good sign, but right now it was just a reminder that he was in critical condition. That it was touch and go. That if his heart had been slightly farther up in his chest, he would have been dead.

"He'll be fine, Cammie." My mother wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

"You can't know that." She let out a low chuckle at this, "What's so funny?"

"That was his exact response when you were in that bed." She offered a small smile.

"It's not funny, Mom."

"I'm going to get us some dinner." My mother rose.

"I'm not hungry." I stated leaning forward I took a hold of one of Zach's hands in both of mine.

"You are going to eat. It's been a week and all you've eaten are a few crackers." My mother left.

I stayed on the little couch, which had formed a mold to my body. I felt a light squeeze on my hand. "Don't tell me you're starving yourself on my account." The voice was rougher than I remembered.

"Zach!" I lunged at him, landing on his bed with my arms wrapped around him.

He grunted, "Easy Gallagher Girl. Just got shot and all." I jumped back.

"Sorry." I apologized.

"It's ok, Gallagher Girl. Come here." He reached out his good side's arm. I slowly and carefully tucked myself into the crook of his arm, resting my head on his chest.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was a jerk earlier." I apologized, carefully running my fingertips over the edge of his bandages right where the white met the dark tan of his chest.

"I think you made up for it when I was lying on the ground with a hole in my chest." He chuckled. I looked at him accusingly, "Remember, critical condition."

"Ya ya ya." I let my head fall back onto his chest, looking down at his taunt abs, anywhere but his face, "So you heard that?"His thumb found the hem of my shirt and slipped underneath it to rub calming circles.

"The entire monologue." I could hear that smirk on his face.

"Shows what you know. It was only a few sentences."

"It was long enough." He sighed, "Look at me Gallagher Girl." Nope. "Cammie, please." Using the real name card... Nope, "Fine." He took in a deep breath, "In case you haven't noticed, I don't exactly have a lot of people I care about, there's Joe and Grant and Jonas and I guess the rest of my classmates, but not in the same way. Then you came along," He paused, his thumb still rubbing even circles in my side, "You're different from the rest. And I don't mean to pull the whole 'you're a girl' thing, but you are. I'm new to this, I live at an all guys school, Cammie. I'm trying so hard Cam, I really am.

"At the mall, Grant was fixated on Bex, but I couldn't take my eyes off of you. You were cute, but you were an average girl, nowhere near the security clearance needed to even be associated with me. Then you made me, I brushed my fixation off as my gut telling me something was off, but I knew, deep down, that was just my brain trying to protect me. That night, all the guys came to our room and were talking about you girls. Every time a guy mentioned you I felt a protective urge I had never felt. On the track, I was disappointed that it was Bex running with me, not you, but I was over joyed when she stuck you with me at breakfast..." I thought he was finished, but he plowed on.

"Turns out you're the Chameleon and I know that you are, quite possibly, one of the most gifted spies I had ever heard of, although I had never dreamed the Chameleon was a girl, much less a teenager. I'll be honest, I guessed when you hid in with the little kids in the auditorium, I got lucky. Then when you showed up at my door and said Liz was shot, I was so worried, but not about Liz."

I turned to lie on my stomach to face him. He was looking up at the ceiling, reliving each moment, I gave him a quick kiss on the lips, "Would you shut up already?"

"One more thing." He brought his hand to the back of my neck allowing his fingers to lace through my hair, "I love you too Gallagher Girl." And then we kissed.


	20. Author's Note

**A.N.** This is the end of sighted :'( I hope you enjoyed:) And I also would like to advertise another one of my completed stories, Visitation, as well as its in-progress sequel, Deliverance. I want to say thank you to everyone who reviewed and favorited and all those fun options they put at the bottom of the page. I also want to say this next story (Deliverance) will have much slower updates since I am moving back into my dorm at school tomorrow and I have an insane schedule (no sophomore in high school should have an AP and two advanced classes and still be forced to participate in sports *grumble grumble grumble*). Thanks again guys!


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